We have a President hostile to fixing the system and a Congress currently controlled by reform opponents. However, history makes clear that reform issues are cyclical in nature: the kind of scandalous system that exists today has led to major reforms in the past, and can do so again in the future.
FRED WERTHEIMER’S WEEKLY NOTE | February 17, 2022 The attacks on our democracy are moving into the 2022 primary elections. New state voter suppression laws that restrict access to absentee ballots, eliminate ballot drop boxes, drop registered voters from the rolls, and reduce polling places, among other provisions, are about to directly impact voters in […]
FRED WERTHEIMER’S WEEKLY NOTE | February 3, 2022 Following the defeat last month of the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, essential voting rights legislation, by a vote of 52-to-48, a small bipartisan group of Senators turned their focus to repairing the Electoral Count Act of 1877 (ECA). This effort to develop ECA reforms […]
Reforms to the Electoral Count Act (ECA) are “needed and welcome, but they simply are not adequate to meet the current moment.” As Congress considers the next steps in the fight to move voting rights forward, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of more than 230 national organizations, and 53 individual […]
FRED WERTHEIMER’S WEEKLY NOTE | JANUARY 20, 2022 American democracy suffered a major defeat last night. Last night, 52 Senators voted down a filibuster rules change that would have allowed the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act to pass the Senate by majority vote. Those Senators – 50 Republicans and two Democrats – joined […]
“The Fight Goes On.” Statement of Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer American democracy suffered a major defeat last night. Last night, 52 Senators voted down a filibuster rules change that would have allowed the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act to pass the Senate by majority vote. Those Senators – 50 Republicans and […]
As the voting rights debate begins “the decision Senators make will determine whether our democracy and the right to vote will be preserved — or whether Trump’s Big Lie will continue to contaminate the country,” D21 President Fred Wertheimer writes on NBC Think. Debate on the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis voting rights legislation is […]
On Tuesday night, as the Senate continued debate on the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, a coalition of 63 organizations and partners, including Democracy 21, issued statements regarding the urgency and importance of passing the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act and continuing debate until the legislation is passed. Statement of Democracy […]
“[W]e are united now in urging Congress to exercise its Constitutional responsibility to enact laws that set national standards for the conduct of Federal elections and for decisions that determine election outcomes,” Jerry West, Nick Saban, Paul Tagliabue And Others Write In Letter To Sen. Manchin In a letter to Senator Joe Manchin […]
In a letter today, Democracy 21 urged the 50 Senators who support the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act to “do whatever it takes” to pass the legislation. When Senate proponents “fought for the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964, they recognized the bill was of overriding importance to the country,” according to […]
WERTHEIMER’S WEEKLY NOTE | JANUARY 13, 2022 Last night, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced a strategy to use a little known procedure that will bring voting rights legislation to the Senate floor for debate – bypassing a filibuster. The voting rights legislation, consolidated into a single bill, the Freedom to Vote: John R. […]
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