Dear friend,

The right to vote is a sacred component of our democracy -- and to this day, there are powerful forces and people out there trying to take it away.

Folks often think of voter suppression as a thing of the past, but it’s unfortunately still very real, as we’ve witnessed not only in states like Georgia and North Carolina, but also right here in Mississippi.

From a Jim Crow-era law requiring governors to win a majority of state house districts, not just the popular vote, to our 2018 special election where voters weren't given enough time to fill out and return their absentee ballots, sadly, voter suppression efforts are still alive and well.

One of the key reasons why voter suppression has become more rampant was the 2013 Supreme Court decision to gut the Voting Rights Act (VRA) , allowing states and municipalities to close thousands of polling locations, purge voter rolls, and push gerrymandering to unconstitutional levels.

Just look at Georgia, where more than 50,000 registrations -- nearly 70% belonging to black voters -- were put on hold in the 2018 election.

But we have a chance to fix this through a bill called the Voting Rights Advancement Act. This legislation, which has already passed in the U.S. House, would update the VRA for the first time since 2006 and give it teeth again to protect voters from hyper-partisan suppression efforts. Now, it heads to the Senate.

Will you join me in urging our Senators, including Mississippi’s Cindy Hyde-Smith, to support the Voting Rights Advancement Act today? [[link removed]]

ADD YOUR NAME [[link removed]]

Together, we must protect the right to vote for everyone, and prevent it from being further eroded.

Thanks,

Mike

---

Paid for by Mike Espy for U.S. Senate
Mike Espy for U.S. Senate
4450 Old Canton Rd, Suite 205
Jackson, MS 39211
United States
unsubscribe: [link removed]