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Last Tuesday, Senate Republicans voted against the For the People Act, which would have strengthened access to the ballot.
If we take this vote at face value, we must acknowledge that Joe Biden’s 47 years in the Senate, Kamala Harris’s time in the Senate and her presiding over this process, and Chuck Schumer’s experience and leadership means nothing because they couldn’t ensure passage of this bill. This means that Mitch McConnell is still the majority leader setting the agenda for the Senate.
The right to vote is that important, and Tuesday’s failed vote is an indication that we need to escalate. Unless we are prepared to concede those points, then we must escalate our fight for voting rights protection. We need to act like this is the urgent and existential threat to our democracy that it is.
In the November 2020 election, voters turned out in massive numbers. Americans expressed their desire for a country that works for and includes all. Many of us felt we turned a corner in terms of registering and turning out voters.
But progress wasn’t pleasing to all. In an unprecedented attempt to stifle electoral participation, Republican legislatures across the country responded to the November election by enacting a wave of measures that will make it harder for communities of color to vote.
According to the Brennan Center for Justice, between January 1 and May 14, 2021, 14 states have passed 22 laws making it harder for Americans to vote.
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