Read in-depth op-eds on voting rights and democracy from our contributors, guest authors and Democracy Docket's founder, Marc Elias. Use the drop-down menu to organize by topic.
Now, a compromise bill, the Freedom the Vote Act — based on the For the People Act and a framework announced by Sen. Joe Manchin earlier this summer — offers Democrats a path forward. This is the vehicle that can become law.
As Black women born and raised in the South, we know all too well the painful history of voting discrimination in this nation. We grew up listening to the stories of literacy tests, poll taxes, and other barriers to the ballot box.
If the bill is enacted, more citizens will be able to have their votes counted. And, those of us fighting suppression laws in court will have the tools necessary to achieve fast, consistent victories.
We cannot count on the courts to defend the right to vote. It will be legislation, not litigation, that ensures our democracy is strong and that our federal elections in 2022 and beyond are free and fair.
Not all bad laws come in big packages labeled voter suppression. Not all disenfranchisement tactics make the nightly news. Yet, regardless of the size of the law, the tragic result for democracy is the same.
The GOP in Texas can feel a diminishing grip on power, and in its thirst for control, has sold its soul to discrimination replacing constitutional protectionism with a rollback of voting rights for the disenfranchised.
Now, with the ghost of Jim Crow threatening to rise, it is our responsibility to carry the work further and recommit to voting rights. Congressman Lewis and countless others fought for our right to vote. It is our job now to protect it.
The truth is that Republicans have made restricting the freedom to vote a central part of their platform, and they have rejected every proposal, compromise or not, that has come their way.
Without election workers, we cannot have free and fair elections, and without elections, we will no longer have a democracy. We must act now to protect those who safeguard our right to vote.
American voters are poised to face unreasonably longlines just to exercise their constitutional right to vote. No democratic country should stand for a status quo where voters have to stand in line for hours.
