WASHINGTON, D.C. – The right to vote is central to our democracy. Without free and fair elections, elected leaders can’t claim the consent of the governed.
S1, the For the People Act, is the most critical democracy reform of our time. It would expand voting rights, fix our broken campaign finance system and end extreme partisan gerrymandering. It would ensure that our political system responds to the needs and priorities of the American people and not special interests.
The 2020 election, like the 2018 midterms, saw historic levels of voter turnout – in the middle of a pandemic. But the urgency and importance that drove voters to the polls was dissipated by organized, unprecedented attacks on the electoral process. These efforts were designed to disenfranchise and suppress Black and brown voters by promoting false claims of “voter fraud.”
Today, I joined a coalition of civil rights groups and elected leaders on the steps of the United States Supreme Court to demand that the Senate live up to the words that are cast in stone on that building, “Equal Justice Under Law,” and demand that S1 be brought to a vote in the Senate.
We are at a turning point in our democracy, like the New Deal and the Civil Rights eras before. Once again, the American people can overcome the forces of unparalleled wealth, greed, discrimination and inequality to strengthen our most basic freedoms. We need fair elections, where the right to vote can never be limited or taken away because of partisan politics.
We need the For the People Act, and we need it now. The future of our democracy is at stake.