Senators Klobuchar, Wyden, and Coons currently holding a call with a bipartisan group of secretaries of state about trying to generate support in Congress for more voting funding and reforms in response to Coronavirus

"This doesn't have to be a partisan bloodbath" says @RonWyden

"We, secretaries of state, are in the Democracy business. And it's a tough time to be in the Democracy business," says Minnesota secretary of state Steve Simon

Says expanding vote by mail as necessary will come with "steep steep price tags" so state officials need more $$

Important to remember that many NE states don't traditionally have large numbers of absentee ballots, not just the South

Anthony Albence, election commissioner in Delaware, says his state has traditionally been 5% mail turnout, but expecting that to increase a lot

Now speaking is Kim Wyman -- REPUBLICAN secretary of state of Washington -- who has been among the most outspoken defenders of vote by mail

But notes it took Wash multiple decades to transition to all vote by mail, so it's outlandish to think whole country can get there by Nov

Wyman calls out public officials who try to seed doubt in elections with fears of voter fraud -- doesn't call out Trump by name though

"With this pandemic, we have to get past partisanship"

N.M. sec of state Maggie Toulouse Oliver notes that even if lots of vote by mail, they're required by law to stand up 700+ polling places. They're pushing legislature to allow all-mail election

Example of how each state will need to navigate individual laws as well as logistics

Secretary of state Mac Warner (R) makes it clear he thinks any measures should be temporary, no sweeping changes to the whole system in time of crisis.

"We don't need to expand early voting" says Warner. Lots of experts say expanded early voting would help with crowded precincts

California secretary of state Alex Padilla up now. He represents the largest voting population in the country, of course.

"Maintaining some level of in person voting" is imperative for voting rights, especially for disabled voters, notes Padilla.

Common theme is election officials trying to make clear that lawmakers need to be thinking of this as a problem right now, not something that is more than 6 months away

Padilla says it "shouldn't take a crisis" for lawmakers to want to fund elections. They need consistent money, Padilla says... Something state officials have been pushing for since 2016 (though then it was related to cyber security)

Louisiana secretary Kyle Ardoin says he supports more funding for elections, but says his state can't get to all-mail by November, so pushed lawmakers not to include mandates "that will be riddled with numerous issues"

Ardoin (R) says he has "had his budget decimated" -- so he is asking for Congress to take away required 20 percent match that came with the last round of funding

Secretary Condos (D) of Vermont, echoes Ardoin in asking for 20 percent match to get eliminated.

Condos suggests splitting up the money that goes to the states. Some doesn't have any strings, and some comes with incentives to expand early voting, and other reforms