Carla walker5/4/2023 is directly linked to the ongoing struggle for climate and environmental justice. The fight to restore and protect voting rights in the U.S. As Biden said in Atlanta, “The fundamental right to vote is the right from which all other rights flow.” Consolidating or closing polling locations in densely populated communities will result in voters waiting in line for hours to cast their ballots.Īnd when a person’s right to vote is suppressed, their voice is silenced and their influence is reduced on a multitude of issues. Removing or reducing drop boxes for absentee voters eliminates one of the most convenient voting options. Subversive tactics like interfering with local election administration undermine local control and public confidence. Instead, these bills will prevent people from casting their votes. While these new restrictions are ostensibly in the name of preventing supposed voter fraud, let’s be clear: extensive research has proven that fraud is rare, and there is no evidence that the proposed state bills will actually address what little fraud exists. The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act would fully restore the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which has been chipped away at by recent Supreme Court actions. The Freedom to Vote Act would establish national standards to expand access to voting, prevent voter suppression and election sabotage, as well as modernize voter registration. This would not only serve as a huge blow to American democracy, but it would also be a step backward for environmental justice and climate action.Ĭongress has two opportunities to pass national legislation to protect voting rights. If national legislation is not passed to protect voting rights, the bills currently on the table in states across the country will disproportionately thwart Black voters and other marginalized communities from casting their votes. ![]() New bills in Georgia, New Hampshire, Florida, Tennessee, Oklahoma and South Carolina are the latest in a steady effort by Republicans to restrict voting rights last year, 33 laws were enacted in 19 states that will make it more difficult to vote. Biden’s speech came at the start of Georgia’s 2022 legislative session where lawmakers will debate proposals to expand on last year’s laws, including banning ballot drop boxes for absentee voters and investigating election complaints without permission from local election authorities. Georgia is currently ground zero in this battle since sweeping changes to the state’s election laws last year prompted lawsuits for targeting the rights of voters of color. ![]() In Atlanta, President Biden recently raised the alarm about the proliferation of dangerous state laws across the country aimed at further suppressing and subverting the right to vote, and invoked the need for federal-level voter protection interventions.
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