Reforms protecting the freedom to vote should be the first laws passed in 2025. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

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The freedom to vote had a big moment last week. It was not about how citizens should vote in 2024, but what might happen in 2025. It was a rousing affirmation that could lead to sweeping reform — and may signal a momentous fight ahead.

The Freedom to Vote Act would guarantee early voting and vote by mail, establish automatic registration, ban gerrymandering, bring disclosure to dark money in elections, and strengthen public campaign financing and safeguards against election subversion. The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act would restore the strength of the Voting Rights Act after it was gutted by the Supreme Court.

This package would be the most significant democracy reform in two generations. It would strike a blow for racial justice. It would strengthen our system of self-government to better represent the people of a changing, growing country. H.R. 1 and H.R. 4 came within two votes of enactment in 2022. Now it is clear that bold democracy reform is at the center of the public agenda going forward.

Last Wednesday in Chicago, the Brennan Center and Democracy SENTRY held a conversation on voting rights in 2025. Hundreds filled two rooms. We heard from Rep. Joe Morelle, the ranking member of the House Administration Committee, and Rep. Delia Ramirez of Illinois. We heard from Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, one of the country’s foremost election officials. And we heard from top civil rights leaders Maya Wiley of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Damon Hewitt of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and Marc Morial of the National Urban League.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer keynoted. He made clear that the bills are a priority and that he hoped to pass them by February 2025, even if doing so requires changing the rules to allow their passage with a simple-majority vote. “This is vital to democracy,” he told reporters. “This is not just another extraneous issue. This is the wellspring of it all.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, chair of the Rules Committee, closed the event. She movingly described stepping over broken glass in the Capitol on the evening of January 6, 2021, to ensure that the electoral votes were counted. She explained that the fight over the bills, including frustration with outdated Senate rules, galvanized senators to prepare to act when they have the chance.

The Washington Post saw the significance of lawmakers’ focus on these bills, with a lead story

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on its website.

And the next night, Vice President Harris promised to sign the two bills.

As policy — and politics — this is a big deal.

Voters and democracy face rising attacks as Election Day approaches. We’ve seen moves to make it easier to block the verdict of voters in Georgia and other states. Defying half a century of precedent, a federal court ruled that voters can’t sue under the Voting Rights Act. Hundreds of millions of dollars from secret donors have flooded elections. As a recent Brennan Center study

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noted, the racial turnout gap between white and nonwhite voters in states once covered by the Voting Rights Act has grown twice as fast as in the rest of the country. This package would stop this wave of voter suppression in its tracks.

It’s also important politically.

The health of American democracy has ranked among the top issues this year in polls. We must protect against authoritarianism and a repeat of January 6. But what matters most is not what we’re against, but what we’re for: a democracy in which every eligible citizen can vote, have their vote counted, and trust the results.

Another important audience should take note of the cheers for reform: political insiders who sometimes discount public enthusiasm for democracy reform. As I told the attendees at the Brennan Center’s event, “This is not a messaging bill. It’s for real.” Remember: voting rights failed in 1957, 1960, and 1964 before being enacted in 1965.

How will this play out? We hope leaders from all parties will work to protect the freedom to vote. The last time the Voting Rights Act was considered, in 2006, it passed the Senate unanimously. In 2022, on the other hand, only one Republican senator was even willing to consider supporting the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. Sen. Ted Cruz, recognizing the broad popularity of these measures, last time called for an “under-the-dome strategy,” a euphemism for a no-holds-barred filibuster. Amid partisanship and polarization, we should not let obstruction block vital legislation.

At the Brennan Center, we’re proud that so many of the policies in these bills draw on our research and work over two decades. Here’s our commitment: if there is a chance to enact this legislation in 2025, we will do everything we can to make it happen.

As I said in Chicago, over recent years we’ve all been unnerved by the rise of the election deniers. But now there is a democracy movement — deep, diverse, and strong. If we all do our part and do it right, we can make that democracy movement the story of the coming years.





Project 2025 Threatens the Fight Against Election Lies

Since 2020, the government, social media platforms, and researchers have been fighting false claims of widespread voter fraud. Project 2025, a conservative policy agenda promoted by the Heritage Foundation, seeks to disrupt these efforts. The plan aims to retaliate against tech companies for tackling misinformation, target organizations that flag falsehoods, and dismantle crucial agencies like the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI. “Project 2025’s promised attack on those who dare to tell the truth about elections would be particularly destructive at a time when rampant false online information often outpaces local election officials’ ability to communicate the facts,” Gowri Ramachandran and Mekela Panditharatne write. Read more

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The Harmful Fiction of a Race-Neutral Constitution

The Supreme Court’s 2023 decision to end race-based affirmative action in college admissions has unleashed a broad assault on civil rights and social justice initiatives. Based on the flawed and ahistorical notion that the Equal Protection Clause requires racial neutrality, the ruling has encouraged conservative challenges against race-inclusive programs, undoing decades of progress toward a more equitable society. “It is neither isolated nor accidental,” Chihiro Isozaki writes. “Instead, the ruling is part and parcel of the larger originalist project in which the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority is complicit.” Read more

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How Paper Ballots Help Secure Elections

Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are pushing for the use of paper ballots in the 2024 election. They’re correct that paper ballots are an important security measure, but what they’re not sharing is that the overwhelming majority of counties have already adopted them. “Nationwide, we expect around 98 percent of all votes to be cast on paper in the 2024 general election,” Derek Tisler and Lawrence Norden write, noting that the shift to paper ballots has been a major success story in the elections community. Read more

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Helping Students Vote

This fall, many college students will cast a ballot for president for the first time, but obstacles could prevent them from voting. Drawing on conversations with students and the election officials who serve their communities, a new Brennan Center resource provides guidance to help colleges and local authorities ensure that student voters have a clear path to the polls in 2024 and every voting cycle to come. Read more

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Keeping Guns Away from Elections

With the dramatic increase in threats against election officials and the persistent risk of voter intimidation, more states are taking urgent action to keep firearms away from our elections. This year, the Brennan Center and our partners played a key role in passing laws in Colorado, Massachusetts, and Vermont to ban guns from polling and vote-counting locations. “To preserve the sanctity and safety of elections, it is critical that states continue to adopt solutions to this problem and address the emerging threat of guns as instruments of voter suppression,” Allison Anderman writes. READ MORE

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More Trouble for Georgia’s Elections

Georgia’s state election board has pushed a series of controversial voting rule changes this summer that could significantly burden election workers and fuel doubts about the 2024 results. Some board members are now proposing to replace Fulton County’s independent election monitors with biased, inexperienced ones. The county elections board needs to resist these efforts, Gowri Ramachandran and Marina Pino urge. “Any scenario where unqualified monitors are given state credentials to inject their biases into the democratic process through an extensive review process would be dangerous for the county and election results writ large,” they write. Read more

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NEW PODCAST EPISODE: A Historic Moment for Supreme Court Reform

Our latest episode features a panel discussion about this unique historical moment to reform the Supreme Court by imposing term limits and a binding code of ethics for the justices. The panelists included Cristina Rodríguez, professor at Yale Law School and former co-chair of the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States; Diane Wood, retired circuit judge and director of the American Law Institute; and Alicia Bannon, director of the Brennan Center’s Judiciary Program and editor in chief of State Court Report. The conversation was moderated by Brennan Center President Michael Waldman. Listen on Spotify

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, Apple Podcasts

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, or your favorite podcast platform

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.





Coming Up

VIRTUAL EVENT: The Experts’ Guide to Free and Fair Elections

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Thursday, September 19, 3–4 p.m. ET



Election workers are unsung heroes, working behind the scenes to ensure that our elections run smoothly and securely. Yet many people don’t fully grasp what their job entails, leaving room for election deniers to spread misinformation. This lack of understanding has fueled a disturbing rise in threats, intimidation, and abuse of election officials since 2020. As we approach another critical election marked by rampant misinformation and attacks on democracy, it’s more important than ever to know the facts about election administration.



Join us for a live virtual event that will spotlight these essential but often overlooked professionals. The discussion will offer a unique opportunity to hear firsthand from the people who make our elections possible as they share their day-to-day challenges and the role that they play in protecting democracy. RSVP today

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Want to keep up with Brennan Center Live events? Subscribe to the events newsletter.

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News

Patrick Berry on a voter purge in Ohio // OHIO CAPITAL JOURNAL

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Alice Clapman on lies about noncitizen voting // NBC

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Ames Grawert on the decrease in violent crime // USA TODAY

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Michael Li on new Black-majority districts in Alabama and Louisiana // DEMOCRACY DOCKET

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Wendy Weiser on Arizona’s new proof of citizenship requirement for voting // WASHINGTON POST

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