October 20, 2021
by Matthew Rothschild, Executive Director
Democrats in Congress need to stop dilly-dallying around and push through the Freedom to Vote Act.
This bill, which actually has Joe Manchin as a co-sponsor, would do a number of crucial things.
It would prevent voter suppression.
It would facilitate voting by establishing automatic voter registration and by requiring two weeks of early voting, including on nights and weekends.
It would set a national standard for mail-in voting in every state.
It would make Election Day a national holiday.
It would also prevent local election officials from being removed for partisan reasons and thereby blocking the grotesque voter subversion efforts that under way in several states.
And it would reenfranchise federal prisoners as soon as they’ve served their time and are released from the prison gates.
On the campaign finance reform front, it would require the disclosure of donors to dark money groups.
And on the redistricting front, it would ban partisan gerrymandering.
These are all key reforms for buttressing the pillars of our democracy, which are so under siege right now.
And if it takes getting rid of the filibuster to pass the Freedom to Vote Act then by all means get rid of it.