Freedom to Vote Act Would Blunt Multi-Pronged Attacks on Democracy

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) today reintroduced the Freedom to Vote Act, which would set commonsense standards for safe, convenient practices like early voting, automatic voter registration, and vote-by-mail, and add safeguards against election sabotage. It would also ban gerrymandering and shine a light on secret political spending. Lisa Gilbert, executive vice president of Public Citizen, released the following statement:

“It has been 10 years since the U.S. Supreme Court gutted voting rights, and two years since a president attempted to overturn the will of voters to remain in power. Now, Congress has a chance to reverse this antidemocratic tide by passing legislation that would safeguard our freedom to vote from those who are attempting to snatch it away.

“Between the Shelby vs. Holder decision and extremists in Congress and state houses – supported by wealthy interests who don’t want democracy – we are in dangerous territory. Far too many House Republicans continue to promote the fraud of a stolen 2020 election. Lawmakers across the nation are passing bills making it more difficult to vote in communities of color. They don’t want us to vote for popular policies like protecting social security, marriage equality, and abortion rights. They want to pick their voters. That’s not democracy.

“The Freedom to Vote Act would protect our right to choose who represents us. It would end partisan and racial gerrymandering. And it would make it harder to sabotage elections, and help to eliminate the undue influence of dark money in our elections.

“We must enshrine our democratic freedoms in federal legislation that would blunt the multi-pronged attacks on our democracy. Congress must pass the Freedom to Vote Act without delay.”