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U.S. Senate Democrats joined with dozens of state legislators at a rally outside the U.S. Capitol Tuesday afternoon, demanding that the Senate skip August recess and pass critical voting rights legislation in reaction to Republican-led states that have adopted restrictive voting laws.
The state lawmakers traveled to Washington to pressure the Senate to quickly pass, known as the 鈥淔or the People Act.鈥� Sen. Paul G. Pinsky (D-Prince George鈥檚), who as chairman of the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee in Annapolis has jurisdiction over Maryland election law, was among the state legislators on hand.
In a Twitter post, Pinsky said he was there 鈥渢o stop the racist voting restrictions being passed in multiple states.鈥�
The nearly 800-page legislative package, sponsored by U.S. Rep. John P. Sarbanes (D-Md.) on the House side, would undo dozens of restrictive voting laws already in place and faces major hurdles gaining enough GOP support to advance in the Senate.
The state lawmakers, along with half a dozen U.S. Senate Democrats, also called for an end to the filibuster in order to pass S.1 before the Senate leaves for recess.
Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who chairs the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, said during the rally that the Senate is working to quickly craft a new, bipartisan elections bill. Klobuchar said that Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, a key moderate, was heavily involved in crafting the legislation.
碍濒辞产耻肠丑补谤听聽in Georgia, which has become known as 鈥済round zero鈥� for聽Democrats in their fight to protect voting rights.
鈥淭hese things are done to design to make sure that people don鈥檛 vote,鈥� Klobuchar said, referring to the restrictive voting laws passed in Georgia. 鈥淭hat, my friends, is why we need national bedrock, basic standards for voting in this country.鈥�
Georgia鈥檚 role
Georgia state legislators, along with U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), stressed their state鈥檚 role in not only delivering Democrats the White House for President Biden, but also聽, giving Democrats a razor-thin majority with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking tie votes.
鈥淭his is a defining moment in America,鈥� Warnock, who was also present at the field hearing, said. 鈥淭his is really very simple. Some people don鈥檛 want some people to vote.鈥�
With the passage of Georgia鈥檚 new voting law,聽SB 202, Georgia state Democrats have lobbied for congressional Democrats to pass the 鈥淔or the People Act,鈥� arguing that they cannot continue to 鈥渙ut organize the subversion of democracy,鈥澛犔醪咕被�.
鈥淟et me be clear, we cannot out organize power hungry Republicans who are currently trying to steal power away from our local election boards,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 would also be clear on this that it is not the job of Black and brown organizers and Black and brown voters to carry the weight of saving our democracy on their shoulders.鈥�
Nguyen said that Georgia gave Democrats the majority in the Senate, and now it was Congress鈥� job to pass federal voting protections, since Georgia鈥檚 rights are under attack. The聽聽eliminates drop boxes and makes it a crime to pass out聽聽to voters waiting in lines, among other provisions.
A flood of new laws
This year alone, 18 states have passed 30 restrictive voting laws that range from making mail-in voting harder to enacting voter ID requirements and purging voter rolls,聽And more than 400 bills in 49 states with restrictive voting provisions have been introduced in the 2021 legislative sessions.
The flurry of state Republican legislators introducing and passing these laws began after Biden won the 2020 presidential election, and former President Trump continued to perpetuate the falsehood that the election was stolen from him. Democrats refer to that as the 鈥淏ig Lie,鈥� and have criticized Republicans for going along with that falsehood by introducing restrictive voting laws.
The House passed its version of S. 1, known as H.R. 1, but聽
Sarbanes, along with U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), called for the end of the filibuster and the passage of 鈥淔or the People Act.鈥�
鈥淲e know that voter suppression and election subversion suppress and suffocate and diminish the voice of the people in the country,鈥� Sarbanes said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what the 鈥楩or the People Act鈥� is trying to address, to lift up the voice of the people to fight back against voter suppression and election subversion, to fight back against the influence big money has in our politics.鈥�
North Carolina voting rights
North Carolina state Sen. Natalie Murdock (D) said that federal voting protections are needed, and pointed out that her state in its constitution still refers to a literacy test needed for voting.
She added that this is not the first time Black voters have had to fight for their basic right to vote.
鈥淰oter suppression is not as flagrant as it was when my ancestors fought,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he fire hoses and attack dogs have been replaced with complex and oppressive laws fueled by the 鈥楤ig Lie鈥� that not only make it harder to vote, but harder for those votes to count.鈥�
Donna Lasinski, the Democratic leader in the Michigan House, said in a statement she was at the rally with聽state Reps.聽Rachel Hood,聽Matt Koleszar聽 and聽Mari Manoogian, and state Sen.聽Adam Hollier.
鈥淩estricting and hampering the freedom to vote for citizens across the Great Lakes State is wrong, and we鈥檙e going to fight these efforts every step of the way,鈥� Lasinski said.
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat, said the bills that he鈥檚 seeing in his state seek to depress voting among voters of color.
鈥淭hese voter suppression bills, at their core, are about white supremacy,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 one of the many reasons we have to stop them, or override them with federal legislation.鈥�
The minority Democratic whip of the Pennsylvania legislature,聽, agreed and said that voter suppression 鈥渋s about suppressing some of our right to vote, and the some of those folks that they try to suppress is folks that look like me.鈥�
鈥淟et鈥檚 call a spade a spade,鈥� said Harris, who is Black.
Casey added that he鈥檚 determined to pass voting rights legislation, 鈥渆ven if that means changing the Senate rule on 60 votes.鈥�
Any voting rights legislation will face an uphill battle in the Senate.
Democrats have been unable to get the 10 Republican votes needed to advance the bill to debate and Senate Democrats Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona are not on board with eliminating the filibuster, even to pass voting rights legislation.
Civil rights advocates have聽聽Manchin and聽Sinema nonetheless.
John Lewis bill
The state legislators at the rally also urged the quick passage of聽the 鈥淛ohn Lewis Voting Rights and Advancement Act.鈥�
House Democrats are planning this week聽named after the late Rep. John Lewis, the Georgia civil rights icon, that could protect voting rights across the United States.
The bill, H.R. 4, aims to聽strengthen the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and while it has not been made public yet, it is possible it could do so by establishing a new formula to require all 50 states to get special permission from the Justice Department before making any changes to voting laws or putting in place new voting requirements.
The preclearance formula for Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act was put in place for nine states, and a handful of cities and countries, with a history of discriminating against Black voters. Those states聽聽Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia. The handful of counties included those in New York, Florida, North Carolina, California and South Dakota.
At the rally, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, said that the fight to protect voting rights will be carried on by the memory of Lewis, who advocated for the right to vote for decades.
鈥淲e know John Lewis was a legend, but he was just a young man when he got off the sidelines and threw himself into the (civil rights) efforts,鈥� noted Booker.
And with that memory, Booker acknowledged that it will be a long fight to protect voting rights, just as it was when the Voting Rights Act was first passed in 1965.
Lewis 鈥渒new that voting rights wouldn鈥檛 come by a bunch of folks in the Senate getting together and saying 鈥楬ey, y鈥檃ll, you know what, let鈥檚 give those Negro people their voting rights,鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 not how change is made. Power concedes nothing without a demand, it never has and it never will. If there is no struggle there is no progress.鈥�
Maryland Matters’ Josh Kurtz contributed to this report.
