They did it!

Yesterday, new voting rights legislation was proposed in the United States Senate that will be supported by every Democrat including Senator Joe Manchin.

The bill — the Freedom To Vote Act — preserves key elements of the earlier For the People Act (a.k.a. H.R.1/S.1) AND ALSO has the full and robust support of Senator Manchin.

The Freedom To Vote Act is a compromise, but it is a very good bill.

Here are just some of the ways it would confront the discriminatory voter suppression laws being pushed by Republican governors and legislators in nearly every state in the country:

• Make it easier for more Americans to vote by designating Election Day a national holiday and by allowing same-day voter registration in every state.

• Set clear baseline standards for voting by mail.

• Restore the right to vote in federal elections to ex-felons who have served their time.

• Put a stop to partisan gerrymandering.

• Block schemes by Trumpist governors and state legislators to give themselves the power to override election results they don’t like.

• Prevent billionaires from spending unlimited “dark money” to distort our elections.

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky immediately admitted that Republicans would not let Democrats “overrule state and local governments” — not even, presumably, those that are dismantling democracy in broad daylight.

So Senate Republicans are almost certainly going to once again invoke the Jim Crow filibuster in a flagrantly partisan bid to block passage of pro-democracy legislation.

Let’s make sure Senate Democrats keep the momentum going!

Tell Senate Democrats:

Bring the Freedom To Vote Act up for a vote by the full Senate right away. If (when) the Republicans filibuster it, there can be no further doubt that the filibuster must be set aside, at least for the purpose of passing laws to safeguard the very foundation of our democracy.

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For democracy,

- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen
 
 
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