We Must Act Now to Protect Voting Rights and Expand Access
An Opinion by Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter (SC) , Rep. Zakiya Summers (MS) & Sen. Nikema Williams (GA)
August 7, 2020 at 5:00 am ET
Fifty-five years ago, Black people in the South were finally given some hope. Hope that our communities would be seen, our bodies would be protected, and our votes would be counted because the Voting Rights Act was law.
Fifty-five years later, the law Rep. John Lewis and so many others shed blood for and spent their lives defending has been trampled over by the Supreme Court and by the very state legislatures we serve in: Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina.
Our nation should be honoring the legacy of John Lewis and the demands of anti-racist protesters in our streets with a new and expansive VRA. Our states should be adapting already modern and well-run election systems to ensure every American voter Black, white or brown has a safe option to vote this November without fearing for their health. Instead, the legislatures of Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina and many of our neighbors are ground zero for modern-day voter suppression.