After reintroducing a bill to protect voting rights with his fellow Democrats in Congress, U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock says the issue of voter suppression is a “911 emergency,” and a legislative response is needed to sustain American democracy.
“We are in the midst of an all-out assault on democracy and on the freedom to vote,” Warnock told theGrio.
Earlier this week, the Georgia lawmaker joined other Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate to reintroduce the Freedom to Vote Act. The sweeping legislation would eliminate barriers to voting and enhance election integrity and security.
Warnock, who made history in 2021 as the first Black man elected to the Senate from Georgia, said he is deeply concerned about the more than 300 bills introduced in 45 states that restrict voting – some of which became law in at least 14 states, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
The Georgia senator described the issue of voter suppression as “serious” and a fundamental threat to everyday freedoms. Warnock said Republican legislators passing laws to restrict early voting and vote by mail, among other things, are trying to “undermine and subvert the will and the voices of the people.”
“If you look at the rollback of affirmative action, if you look at a lot of the other efforts that are afoot,” he continued, “it is indicative of a party that knows that they’re on the wrong side of all of these arguments.”
Rather than changing their reasoning or their policies, noted the senator, Republicans are “trying to rig the system to get the outcomes that they want.”
Warnock contended that one of the greatest assaults on voting rights has been partisan gerrymandering, the drawing of districts to manipulate outcomes in favor of one party over another.
Republicans have found themselves in court over gerrymandering challenges in states where they are…
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