August 6 is a momentous date for voting rights.
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law on August 6, 1965.
For nearly half a century, that landmark legislation — which Congress strengthened multiple times on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis — made true multiracial democracy in our country possible.
But in 2013, the Supreme Court gutted a key provision of the Voting Rights Act — with Chief Justice John Roberts ruling, incredibly, that racial discrimination in voting is a thing of the past. Then, just a few weeks ago, the Republican Justices severely weakened another key provision of the law.
All across America, Trumpist legislators are pushing racist, anti-democratic voting restrictions with the blatant intent to tilt elections in favor of Republican candidates.
Republicans have jammed through at least 28 voter suppression laws in 17 states since Election Day, and they are pushing literally hundreds more in nearly every state in the country.
Which brings us to August 6, 2021 — just two weeks from today.
That’s the last day the U.S. Senate is scheduled to be in session before it goes on recess for the remainder of the summer.
Here’s why that matters — a lot:
While Congress is in recess, the results of the 2020 Census will be released. If there is no law to prevent them from doing so, Republican state legislators throughout the country could very well use the Census data to gerrymander Republican majorities in state legislatures and the U.S. House of Representatives for at least the next decade.
That means we have to fight like hell between now and August 6 to advance the For the People Act.
The For the People Act (a.k.a. H.R.1/S.1) would end partisan gerrymandering, stop billionaires from buying elections, protect voting rights, and more.
Like the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the For the People Act will be a decisive turn toward defending democracy and upholding the best values of our nation.
In coalition with allied organizations, Public Citizen will be a leader over the next two weeks as Americans around the country raise their voices even louder in a powerful demand to safeguard our democracy by passing the For the People Act.
- We will be part of an intensive lobbying campaign on Capitol Hill.
- We will be on the ground in West Virginia, Arizona, and other states — and activate our members in those states — so that the imperative to defend democracy gets through to key senators loud and clear.
- We will support the courageous Texas legislators who fled their state in order to block passage of racist voter suppression measures.
- We will generate tens of thousands of petitions and letters to senators.
- We will coordinate with state legislators nationwide to raise their voices in support of the For the People Act.
- And we will continue mobilizing pressure on Senate Democrats — ALL of them — to find a way to set aside or work around the filibuster to pass this desperately-needed legislation.
Our nation stands at a crossroads. Will we allow the forces of racism and plutocracy to eviscerate our democracy? Or will we demand the transformative policies necessary to protect it?
Well, I can tell you that Public Citizen has no intention of letting democracy be smothered on our watch.
But all the critical work we have to do together between now and August 6 is going to take real-world financial resources.
Can I count on you to chip in to help defend democracy?
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Thank you!
For democracy,
- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen
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