Two senior senators—Republican Rob Portman of Ohio and Democrat Dick Durbin of Illinois—are introducing legislation to allow Senate votes to be held remotely.

"In times of extraordinary national crisis, the Senate must be able to convene and act expeditiously even if we can't be together in person," Portman said in a press statement.

Some members in the House of Representatives have also been pushing to allow remote voting in the House. A bipartisan group of lawmakers wrote a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Wednesday urging her to allow remote voting.

The rules in both houses of Congress currently require members to be physically present to cast votes. And leaders in both houses have resisted calls to change that.

"We'll not be doing that," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told reporters on Tuesday. Instead, McConnell has increased the time senators have to vote, allowing them to keep more distance from one another.

"I would encourage our colleagues to come and vote and depart the chamber so we don’t have gaggles of conversations here on the floor,” McConnell said on Wednesday.

The debate over remote Congressional voting gained increased urgency on Wednesday when it was revealed that two members of Congress—Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) and Rep. Ben McAdams (D-UT) had contracted the coronavirus.

Older people face heightened risks from the coronavirus, and Congress is an elderly institution. There are five senators in their 80s and 22 in their 70s. The House of Representatives has dozens of members over 70—members whose lives would be in serious danger if they contracted COVID-19.

Remote voting has obvious advantages, especially during a pandemic. But the concept also has some risks. A remote voting system would need to be carefully designed to be secure against hackers—no trivial task given how much foreign governments might like to manipulate Congressional votes.

And if remote voting became permanent, there's a risk it could change the culture of Congress. Members of Congress already spend a lot of time in their districts and relatively little time in the District of Columbia, leaving them with little time to develop close relationships with their fellow members of Congress. Remote voting could make that problem even worse.