SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y., center) stands flanked by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) at the original Senate introduction of the For the People Act on March 27, 2019. (Photo: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
Congress Can Stop These GOP Voter Suppression Laws, Cold. It Just Needs the Political Will.
The For the People Act would make our democracy more inclusive and block efforts by state legislators to make it harder to vote.
Mar 10, 2021
Modern American democracy began in a hail of police batons and kicks on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama.
On March 7, 1965, 25-year-old John Lewis led 600 others to march for voting rights. They were met by a phalanx of state troopers in gas masks. The brutal police attack fractured Lewis's skull. Broadcast on television, the attack sparked a nationwide demand for action. One week later, President Lyndon Johnson went before Congress to propose the Voting Rights Act, declaring in the words of the protest song, "We shall overcome."
The filibuster has been used historically to thwart civil rights legislation. If we are serious about racial justice, we can't let that happen this time.
In years since, on the anniversary of Bloody Sunday, Lewis led lawmakers and activists on a pilgrimage to the spot where blood was shed. Last Sunday was the first such anniversary since Lewis's passing, amid the most significant attempts at targeted, racist voter suppression since the Jim Crow era.
Across the country, Republican legislators are rushing to enact restrictive voting laws. The push is especially flagrant in Georgia.
A new analysis by my colleague Kevin Morris takes a look at which voters would be most harmed by Georgia's proposed restrictions. Nearly 30 percent of Black voters in Georgia cast their votes by mail in 2020, and just 24 percent of white voters did so. But the majority of voters over 65 who cast their ballots by mail were white. So yesterday, the Georgia Senate voted to end no-excuse absentee voting for people under 65, essentially repealing vote by mail for non-senior citizens.
Georgia legislators also want to end early voting on the Sunday before Election Day. That's the day parishioners in Black churches traditionally vote. Sheer coincidence, no doubt. Lawmakers want to repeal automatic voter registration, too. They even want to make it a crime to give a bottle of water to someone waiting in line to vote.
Congress can stop these voter suppression laws, cold. It has the legal and constitutional power to do so. What it needs is the political will.
Last week, the House passed H.R. 1, the For the People Act, the most significant democracy reform legislation in at least half a century. It's the next great civil rights bill. The Senate must pass the For the People Act, and quickly, before redistricting begins to yield gerrymandered maps around the country. One way or another, this bill must find a way around the filibuster--by limiting it, creating an exception, or overturning it altogether. The filibuster has been used historically to thwart civil rights legislation. If we are serious about racial justice, we can't let that happen this time.
President Biden has already announced his support for the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would strengthen the Voting Rights Act after it was weakened by the Supreme Court in 2013. Over the weekend, he demanded action on the For the People Act, calling it "landmark legislation." He also signed an executive order that will put federal agencies to work to expand voter registration and better educate Americans on voter registration and other election-related information. After an administration that peddled the Big Lie about our elections, Biden has put his White House firmly on the side of voters. And he did so on the 56th anniversary of Bloody Sunday--a day of extraordinary heroism and repulsive racism.
The brutal events of Bloody Sunday mobilized Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act. Fifty-six years later, we need Congress to restore it by passing the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
© 2023 Brennan Center for Justice
Michael Waldman
Michael Waldman is President of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, a nonpartisan law and policy institute that focuses on improving the systems of democracy and justice.
Modern American democracy began in a hail of police batons and kicks on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama.
On March 7, 1965, 25-year-old John Lewis led 600 others to march for voting rights. They were met by a phalanx of state troopers in gas masks. The brutal police attack fractured Lewis's skull. Broadcast on television, the attack sparked a nationwide demand for action. One week later, President Lyndon Johnson went before Congress to propose the Voting Rights Act, declaring in the words of the protest song, "We shall overcome."
The filibuster has been used historically to thwart civil rights legislation. If we are serious about racial justice, we can't let that happen this time.
In years since, on the anniversary of Bloody Sunday, Lewis led lawmakers and activists on a pilgrimage to the spot where blood was shed. Last Sunday was the first such anniversary since Lewis's passing, amid the most significant attempts at targeted, racist voter suppression since the Jim Crow era.
Across the country, Republican legislators are rushing to enact restrictive voting laws. The push is especially flagrant in Georgia.
A new analysis by my colleague Kevin Morris takes a look at which voters would be most harmed by Georgia's proposed restrictions. Nearly 30 percent of Black voters in Georgia cast their votes by mail in 2020, and just 24 percent of white voters did so. But the majority of voters over 65 who cast their ballots by mail were white. So yesterday, the Georgia Senate voted to end no-excuse absentee voting for people under 65, essentially repealing vote by mail for non-senior citizens.
Georgia legislators also want to end early voting on the Sunday before Election Day. That's the day parishioners in Black churches traditionally vote. Sheer coincidence, no doubt. Lawmakers want to repeal automatic voter registration, too. They even want to make it a crime to give a bottle of water to someone waiting in line to vote.
Congress can stop these voter suppression laws, cold. It has the legal and constitutional power to do so. What it needs is the political will.
Last week, the House passed H.R. 1, the For the People Act, the most significant democracy reform legislation in at least half a century. It's the next great civil rights bill. The Senate must pass the For the People Act, and quickly, before redistricting begins to yield gerrymandered maps around the country. One way or another, this bill must find a way around the filibuster--by limiting it, creating an exception, or overturning it altogether. The filibuster has been used historically to thwart civil rights legislation. If we are serious about racial justice, we can't let that happen this time.
President Biden has already announced his support for the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would strengthen the Voting Rights Act after it was weakened by the Supreme Court in 2013. Over the weekend, he demanded action on the For the People Act, calling it "landmark legislation." He also signed an executive order that will put federal agencies to work to expand voter registration and better educate Americans on voter registration and other election-related information. After an administration that peddled the Big Lie about our elections, Biden has put his White House firmly on the side of voters. And he did so on the 56th anniversary of Bloody Sunday--a day of extraordinary heroism and repulsive racism.
The brutal events of Bloody Sunday mobilized Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act. Fifty-six years later, we need Congress to restore it by passing the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
Michael Waldman
Michael Waldman is President of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, a nonpartisan law and policy institute that focuses on improving the systems of democracy and justice.
Modern American democracy began in a hail of police batons and kicks on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama.
On March 7, 1965, 25-year-old John Lewis led 600 others to march for voting rights. They were met by a phalanx of state troopers in gas masks. The brutal police attack fractured Lewis's skull. Broadcast on television, the attack sparked a nationwide demand for action. One week later, President Lyndon Johnson went before Congress to propose the Voting Rights Act, declaring in the words of the protest song, "We shall overcome."
The filibuster has been used historically to thwart civil rights legislation. If we are serious about racial justice, we can't let that happen this time.
In years since, on the anniversary of Bloody Sunday, Lewis led lawmakers and activists on a pilgrimage to the spot where blood was shed. Last Sunday was the first such anniversary since Lewis's passing, amid the most significant attempts at targeted, racist voter suppression since the Jim Crow era.
Across the country, Republican legislators are rushing to enact restrictive voting laws. The push is especially flagrant in Georgia.
A new analysis by my colleague Kevin Morris takes a look at which voters would be most harmed by Georgia's proposed restrictions. Nearly 30 percent of Black voters in Georgia cast their votes by mail in 2020, and just 24 percent of white voters did so. But the majority of voters over 65 who cast their ballots by mail were white. So yesterday, the Georgia Senate voted to end no-excuse absentee voting for people under 65, essentially repealing vote by mail for non-senior citizens.
Georgia legislators also want to end early voting on the Sunday before Election Day. That's the day parishioners in Black churches traditionally vote. Sheer coincidence, no doubt. Lawmakers want to repeal automatic voter registration, too. They even want to make it a crime to give a bottle of water to someone waiting in line to vote.
Congress can stop these voter suppression laws, cold. It has the legal and constitutional power to do so. What it needs is the political will.
Last week, the House passed H.R. 1, the For the People Act, the most significant democracy reform legislation in at least half a century. It's the next great civil rights bill. The Senate must pass the For the People Act, and quickly, before redistricting begins to yield gerrymandered maps around the country. One way or another, this bill must find a way around the filibuster--by limiting it, creating an exception, or overturning it altogether. The filibuster has been used historically to thwart civil rights legislation. If we are serious about racial justice, we can't let that happen this time.
President Biden has already announced his support for the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would strengthen the Voting Rights Act after it was weakened by the Supreme Court in 2013. Over the weekend, he demanded action on the For the People Act, calling it "landmark legislation." He also signed an executive order that will put federal agencies to work to expand voter registration and better educate Americans on voter registration and other election-related information. After an administration that peddled the Big Lie about our elections, Biden has put his White House firmly on the side of voters. And he did so on the 56th anniversary of Bloody Sunday--a day of extraordinary heroism and repulsive racism.
The brutal events of Bloody Sunday mobilized Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act. Fifty-six years later, we need Congress to restore it by passing the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.