Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and sixteen other governors penned a letter calling for the passage of two voter protection bills days before the U.S. Senate is expected to vote on them.
The two pieces of legislature, the Freedom to Vote Act and the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, come after a series of anti-voting laws swept through America.
Whitmer makes a plea to the public, emphasizing the peril of our democracy if there are no counteractions against these laws. “In states across the country, people’s voices are being silenced,” Whitmer said. “Since the last election, legislatures have introduced 389 anti-voting bills and counting across 48 states.”
Members of the Republican Party have voiced their opposition to the bills, dismissed the issue altogether, and have gone as far as to block voting procedures for the acts.
“Protecting the right to vote is not a political or partisan issue,” Whitmer said. “It is foundational to who we are.”
President Biden has also made a few remarks on this. In his recent keynote speech at South Carolina State University’s graduation ceremony he took some time to address this matter. “This new sinister combination of voter suppression and election subversion, it’s un-American, it’s undemocratic, and sadly, it is unprecedented since Reconstruction,” Biden said.
POTUS also gave a nod of approval and expressed his support for the two pieces of legislature. “This battle is not over,“ Biden said. "We must pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.”
The two voter protection acts have been a hot topic of discourse between the Democrat and Republican parties.
Freedom to Vote Act
The Freedom to Vote Act includes the following proposals:
- Improving voter access
- Making Election Day a national holiday
- Two weeks of early voting
- Online voter registration
- Permitting same-day voter registration
- Restoring voting rights of incarcerated individuals
John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act
The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act calls on restoring the protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which shifted control over voter registration from the federal government to state governments. The act also focuses on preventing voter intimidation at voting booths, stronger responses to racial discrimination at the polls, and ensuring that any last-minute changes of voting laws will not adversely affect voters.
Currently, the Senate is set to vote on the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act before the end of the year, barring that voting procedures do not get blocked by Republican senators.
“Our democracy works when everyone can be heard, when every eligible voter—no matter where they live or who they support—has safe, convenient, and secure access to the ballot,” Whitmer said.
