Wyden, Veasey Reintroduce Bicameral Resolution Recognizing September as National Voting Rights Month
The resolution is reintroduced as Donald Trump and House Republicans work to make voting harder for Americans
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and U.S. Representative Marc Veasey, D-Texas, reintroduced their resolution recognizing September as “National Voting Rights Month.”
This resolution follows Republicans’ recent attacks on voting rights from the halls of Congress to state legislatures. In July, Donald Trump ordered states like Texas to draw new gerrymandered Republican congressional districts, and Trump recently began threatening to prevent people from voting at home. Additionally, House Republicans earlier this year passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act to impose stricter voter ID requirements, undermining the rights of married women and Native communities.
“American democracy doesn’t work when politicians play partisan games – and that includes Trump giving states marching orders to carve out red-leaning congressional districts to preserve his own power,” Wyden said. “This resolution is a step toward ensuring that politicians have to face all their constituents at the ballot box. Protecting the right to vote is more critical now than ever because every American deserves to have a stake in our country’s future.”
“In recent years we have seen people’s rights and awareness around voting backslide rapidly,” Veasey said. “Voter rolls purges, suppression, racist mid-decade redistricting are all threatening to launch us back into the 50s. The fight for voting rights starts with awareness. Designating a month to voter registration is the start of our fight to enshrine voting rights.”
Wyden and Veasey’s resolution encourages voter registration in the month of September and calls on Congress to preserve the right to vote by passing the Freedom to Vote Act and the Democracy Restoration Act, and by restoring the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The resolution is cosponsored by U.S. Senators John Fetterman, D-Pa., Alex Padilla, D-Calif., Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., Tim Kaine, D-Va., Mazie K. Hirono, D-Hawai’i., Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Angus King, I-Maine, Mark Warner, D-Va., Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Michael Bennet, D-Colo., Tina Smith, D-Minn., Chris Coons, D-Del., Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Peter Welch, D-Vt., Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del.
“While MAGA Republicans across the country continue their attacks on the freedom to vote, democracy defenders in Congress are standing up for every American’s voice. We’re grateful to Senator Wyden and Representative Veasey for shining a spotlight on the urgent need to safeguard voting rights at this critical moment. Stand Up America looks forward to working alongside them to advance federal legislation that ensures every voter is heard,” said Brett Edkins, Managing Director for Policy and Political Affairs at Stand Up America.
The text of the bill is here.
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