Republicans Say No to Voters and to Democracy

The voting rights bills defeated by Senate Republicans today with the help of filibuster rules do not contain any radical ideas.

The Freedom to Vote Act would allow early voting and vote by mail, require states to make voting more accessible for people with disabilities, outlaw partisan gerrymandering, and make Election Day a national holiday. These reforms have already been introduced in many states, including those with Republican governors and legislatures.

The John Lewis Voting Rights Act restores important parts of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Every previous renewal of the Voting Rights Act was signed into law by a Republican president.

Today’s Republicans, led by Mitch McConnell, have turned their backs on voting, and on voters. Instead of respecting the will of the people, they seek to overturn it by any means necessary, including violent insurrection. They cling desperately to power as the party of no: no voting rights, no paid family leave, no health and safety protections for workers, no relief from skyrocketing prescription drug child care costs, no path for workers to join unions, no taxes on corporations or penalties for sending jobs overseas.

A minority of the members of the Senate, who represent an even smaller minority of the American population, should not be able to stand between voters and the ballot box. The legacy of Jim Crow and the white supremacist campaign to disenfranchise Black Americans remains with us in the form of the filibuster. We urge the Senate majority to leave the filibuster where it belongs - in the past - and pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.

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