January 3, 2022
Dear Majority Leader Schumer and Minority Leader McConnell:
We write to urge the Senate as early as possible this month to consider and pass critical voting rights legislation – the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. Voting is essential to maintaining and preserving democracy and is one of the most important rights and responsibilities that U.S. citizens have. The U.S. Conference of Mayors adopted strong policy in support of such legislation in June of this year.
American democracy is stronger when all eligible voters participate in elections. Yet voting rights are under historic attack and our very democracy is threatened. The Brennan Center reports that 19 states have passed 34 laws that make it harder to vote and that state and local election administrators face violent threats and intimidation for their public service.
These bills would stop this voter suppression. They would create national standards for voting access in federal elections that would neutralize many of the restrictive voting laws passed in the states. They would mandate early voting, no-excuse mail voting, an Election Day holiday, and protections for voters with disabilities to make voting as convenient as possible. They also would protect the free and fair administration of our elections by preventing the politicized removal of election officials, safeguard them from partisan intimidation and harassment during the election process, and set uniform rules for vote counting nationwide.
America’s mayors urge you to take whatever steps are necessary to assure that the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act can get a straight up or down vote. Further we urge all Senators to vote for these critical bills.
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