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Have you ever worked towards a really big goal, but the progress was slow, so it was hard to take stock of all that you’d accomplished so far? 

That’s sort of how we see the fight to pass federal voting rights legislation this year. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. But together, we’ve done so much and we want to take a look back at how far we’ve come since early 2021 and remind ourselves of what’s possible in the fight to come. 

The Senate is back from recess on Monday, so let’s take a minute to celebrate everything we’ve accomplished so far as we gear up for the next phase of the fight.

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A 2021 LOOKBACK
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In January and February, we welcomed in a new administration, and we set to work on our federal priorities, including the For the People Act, John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and making Washington, D.C. the 51st state. 

But, with a very slim Democratic majority in Congress, from the start we knew we’d come up against one big obstacle again and again: the filibuster. That’s why we also adopted abolishing the filibuster as a key part of our effort to enact federal voting rights legislation. 

Over the following months the Stand Up America community mobilized to demand their legislators prioritize protecting and expanding our freedom vote. Here’s just a sample of the noise we’ve made this year in support of these three reforms and abolishing the filibuster:

*Total calls to legislators: 82,000+
*Total letters to the editor submitted: 11,000+
*Total emails to lawmakers: 79,000+

And we saw movement across all of our issues!! In March, the House of Representatives passed the For the People Act, sending this landmark legislation to the Senate. This bill would set national voting standards—enacting automatic voter registration, expanding early voting, requiring states to have online voter registration (and a bunch of other stuff too).

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Tweet from @StandUpAmerica

BREAKING: The House just passed one of the most important democracy bills that we've seen for decades, the For the People Act.
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Then in June, the Senate held its second hearing on D.C. statehood after passage in the House with 45 cosponsors. You can read more about what this means for D.C. residents from native Washingtonian and Lead Advocate for 51 for 51 Jamal Holtz here:

[link removed]

Rounding out the summer, the House passed the John Lewis Votings Rights Advancement Act in August. This bill would restore the original 1965 Voting Rights Act and stop future voter suppression bills from being implemented. And the Stand Up America community responded quickly, driving nearly 7,000 calls to the Senate since it passed.

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Tweet from @JudiciaryDems

The House did its job by passing the John Lewis #VRAA. Now it's our turn. Americans are calling on this Senate to protect the integrity of our democracy -- and to secure our Constitutional rights.
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But as a backdrop to all this progress, the stakes of this fight have increased significantly. As of July, we’d seen 18 states pass 30 voter suppression laws that will make it harder for Americans to cast a ballot. These voter suppression laws are the GOP’s response to overwhelming turnout in the 2020 election and are fueled by false accusations of voter fraud. We’ve also seen the For the People Act face roadblocks, delays, and a filibuster—with the threat of yet another filibuster hanging over it all.

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Tweet from @StandUpAmerica

BREAKING: GOP Gov. Ducey signed into law a bill called #SB1485 that will purge 140,000 Arizonans from the Permanent Early Voting List. This is an act of desperation by a party terrified of people voting. Someone might want to tell @SenatorSinema what's going on in her state.
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Instead of despairing, we ramped up the pressure. Although President Biden has said he wants federal voting rights reform, he hasn’t used the full weight of his office to come out against the filibuster. In July we began gathering signatures demanding that President Biden publicly urge the Senate to abolish the filibuster to protect our freedom to vote. We gathered over 400,000 signatures and delivered the petition in person to the White House:

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Photo of 7 people holding signs.
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And we sure didn’t stop there. Building off the momentum or petition, we pivoted to promote March On For Voting Rights, a march in flagship cities around the country to demand federal action to protect and expand our right to vote. Here’s what that day looked like:

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Tweet from @StandUpAmerica

We're demanding the Senate end the filibuster and pass:
*DC Statehood
*The For the People Act
*The John Lewis Voting Rights Act

#VotingRightsMarch
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And let’s not forget—this is just what we’ve been up to at the federal level. All year, the Stand Up America community has also been making progress on voting rights at the state level. Shout out to our community members in New York and Connecticut who helped permanently restore voting rights to formerly incarcerated individuals in both states, and to our community in Nevada who helped pass legislation to expand vote-by-mail and access to the ballot in their state as well. 

And now we’ve arrived in September, with a major fight ahead of us to reform the filibuster and get voting rights legislation passed in the Senate this fall. While we’ve got our work cut out for us, it feels good to take stock of everything we’ve accomplished together and the amazing momentum we’ve generated over the past nine month. Stay tuned in the coming days and weeks for ways you can take action to help get us across the finish line.

We appreciate you! 

Eloise and Sami
Digital Team, Stand Up America
 
     
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