Voting Rights Policy

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Voting is perhaps the most important civic duty that any American can undertake. Voting is crucial to a thriving democracy, and is the cornerstone of this nation’s republic. I believe that each citizen of this country should have their voice heard at the ballot box guaranteed. The United States has not had a perfect record when it comes to the right to vote.  Countless individuals have fought and put their own lives at risk to expand the right to vote in the United States over the course of the past two centuries and while the work of these individuals cannot be praised enough, the work to protect the right to vote is a cause that is not over yet. 

Voter suppression, lack of access to the ballot, low voter turnout, gerrymandering, and undermining of our elections by both foreign and domestic attacks to our voting system, are all threats to a thriving democracy.  The work of generations past is not over yet. Voting is the purest expression of a citizen’s voice, and while in Congress I will propose and pass legislation that protects each American’s sacred right to vote. Through automatic voter registration, civil rights protections, and legislation to combat gerrymandering, I will be an advocate for a democracy that represents all of the people and their inherent right to vote. 

The United States suffers from a multi-tiered problem regarding voting. From encroachments to limit the franchise to outright suppression of votes, there are glaring issues related to voting. Yet, one of the more pressing issues that can easily remedy many of our nation’s ills is solving the United States’ low voter turnout and registration. 38% of eligible adult voters failed to vote in the 2020 Presidential Election, and only 70% of eligible adults are registered to vote. Much of this low rate of voting can be attributed to the obstacles facing citizens to register to vote. 

As your voice in the House of Representatives, I will submit legislation that will automatically register each and every adult to vote on their 18th birthday. Americans should not have to face any obstacles to make their voice heard, and this legislation will make this a reality. 

As seen over the past few years, the right to vote is under attack throughout the United States, with many legislators becoming increasingly bolder in their attempts to strip the right to vote from citizens. Each member of Congress—whether it be at the state-level or national-level—works for their constituents, therefore each citizen should and must be able to determine who works on their behalf. Citizens determine their representatives, not the other way around. 

Many in Congress pay lip-service to protecting voting rights; however, as seen in the failure of Congress to pass meaningful voting protections, both political parties proved unable—and unwilling—to protect the most crucial aspect of our democracy. 

In the course of American history, the right to vote for all citizens has been a struggle over the course of centuries. After amendments to the Constitution and landmark civil rights legislation many glaring issues were remedied, however, the United States is by no measure complete with the work of becoming a fully free and fair democracy where each citizen, regardless of race, ethnicity or creed is protected at the ballot box. Over the past decade since the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, states have instituted laws and congressional maps that target minorities and erode the impact of their voices. 

As seen in recent months, Congress has failed to pass voting rights legislation that can protect voters from the onslaught of laws coming into effect throughout the country making it more difficult for the average American to vote. Legislation aimed at expanding and protecting the rights of each American urgently needs to be passed, and that legislation needs to ensure that the civil rights of those historically disenfranchised is the top priority.  

At this moment, states are redrawing their Congressional maps for the next decade. This practice does not serve the people, but rather serves those in power who seek only to remain in power by literally choosing the houses and the people who are in the Districts they are supposed to represent.  Gerrymandering, the process of making a strangely drawn map that includes a majority of a particular party’s voters.  We need to halt this process and institute a fail safe stop of re-districting, permanently leaving the district drawn as they are, allowing the districts to change over time as different people of different political party persuasions move in.  If we stopped in place every District in the country, gradually, over time, the impact of Gerrymandering Districts would go away.  This problem is fundamental to the ability of our government to adequately represent all of the people and we need to stop it by making permanent each District now drawn for the House of Representatives in 2022.