Dear John,

The moment we’ve been preparing for is here. At long last, Congress may be poised to protect voting rights — and your voice can make a difference.

Last week, President Biden and Senate leaders said that passing voting rights legislation is an urgent priority. President Biden said on Friday, “We must pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. We must. We’re going to keep up the fight until we get it done.” Yesterday, Senator Schumer indicated that the Senate will consider voting rights legislation “as early as the first week back” in January, and he has been meeting with colleagues to craft a way around the filibuster.

But enactment — while closer than it’s ever been — is far from certain. We have a short moment to let the Senate know we need it to pass voting rights legislation now.

I’ll be blunt about the level of urgency: Our democracy is in crisis. In a report the Brennan Center released today, we found that in 49 states, more than 440 bills that restrict voting access have been introduced. And at least 19 states passed 34 of these bills into law — making it harder for people to exercise their right to vote. These numbers are nothing short of extraordinary: state legislatures enacted more restrictive voting laws in 2021 than in any year since we began tracking these stats over a decade ago. And our experts anticipate that this year's tidal wave of restrictive voting laws will continue in 2022.

Congress has the power to stop this voter suppression wave cold. Legally and constitutionally. The only question is whether it has the political will. Tell the Senate to put voting rights at the top of its list – and not allow procedure to get in the way.

These landmark bills — the Freedom to Vote Act and the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act — are critical to countering the Big Lie and the ongoing election sabotage scheme. In a moment of powerful resolve, Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia asked his colleagues: “The judgment of history is upon us. Future generations will ask: 'When the democracy was in a 911 state of emergency, what did you do to put the fire out?' Did we rise to the moment? Or did we hide behind procedural rules?”

These bills have already passed the House, and both have the support of a majority of the Senate. Both have been blocked by the Republican minority. Lawmakers are working on ways to strengthen the Senate so these bills can be debated, amended, but ultimately, come to a vote. For the next two weeks, we need to keep the pressure up and issue a loud and unmistakable call for action.

We have put forth the most sustained legislative effort in Brennan Center history towards passing these vital civil rights bills. The Freedom to Vote Act is the single best solution to heading off a constitutional crisis during the 2022 and 2024 elections. And the John Lewis Act returns the much-weakened Voting Rights Act of 1965, the crown jewel of the civil rights movement, to its full strength.

Together, these bills would restore critical voter protections, undo the worst suppression laws, ban partisan gerrymandering, and protect against attempts to undermine elections by safeguarding them against partisan attacks. The Senate must pass these watershed bills to protect our democracy.

Time is short if we want to blunt extreme gerrymandering and protect the midterms from partisan sabotage — your senators need to know you support these bills.

Thank you for all that you do,

Michael Waldman