We are in a moment in this country when states are suppressing the vote across the South, across the Midwest, even out in the far West. And there’s really only one way to stop it, which is that the Senate, the Congress has to pass urgently needed federal voting rights bills now, the John Lewis bill and the Freedom to Vote Act, which was authored in part by Joe Manchin himself. We have the 51 votes. Vice President Kamala Harris has done her job in getting that consensus as president of the Senate. And now we need Joe Biden, President Joe Biden, to do his job and to call on the Senate to create a path for an up-or-down vote on these bills, so we can stop this voter suppression now.
In general, these bills are meant to make it harder for people to vote. The most extreme thing we’ve seen is actually state legislatures give themselves the power to ultimately overturn entire statewide elections and impose their will on the people of their own state. It’s the most anti-democratic thing that I’ve ever seen.
And what troubles me—now, my grandmother turned 105 this week. Her grandfather was born into slavery, and he was one of the last Blacks to serve in Virginia during Reconstruction
— source democracynow.org | Nov 17, 2021