On Wednesday the House will vote on the For the People Act. I have written at length about why we desperately need the major, major democratic reform that this legislation promises. But I cannot emphasize enough: it is the largest civil rights law since the civil rights movement itself.
As Elizabeth Hira explains, the For the People Act would transform our democratic institutions and, in particular, benefit those hardest hit by the historical flaws of our democracy.
Reforms like auto-registering voters on the same day and nationwide early voting would fix the failures we face after the elections: long lines and overly aggressive voter roll cleanings, especially in color communities. Earlier voting would allow low-income workers who cannot take election day off. While voter registration restrictions are usually aimed at people of color, same-day registration can be an antidote.
Legislation too would respond strongly to today’s money-soaked politics, the world of Citizens United. It would create a system of public funding by small donors for congressional and presidential elections. In New York City, where this has been in place for years, contestants of color, women, and non-politicians have been able to run energetic and creative races simply unimaginable in the world of super PACs and dark money.
And the restructuring reforms of the For the People Act would have enormous effects on the mostly colored communities, which have been stripped of political power due to party-political gerrymandering.
On Monday, the White House strongly advocated the For the People Act. “After an unprecedented attack on our democracy, an unprecedented attempt to ignore, undermine and undo the will of the people, and a new aggressive attack on the right to vote that is now taking place across the country,” the newspaper said Declaration “This landmark piece of legislation is urgently needed to protect the right to vote and the integrity of our elections, and to repair and strengthen American democracy.”
A major political conflict develops that has profound implications for the American ideal.
Republican lawmakers across the country are rushing to impose restrictions on voting rights – and preparing in the south to become gerrymander during the county lines. Congress, meanwhile, has the power to stop this attack on democracy. It has legal and constitutional authority to act. The only question is whether it has the political will. The answer will define the story of racial justice of this moment.
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