Voter Suppression Continues, So We Must Continue the Fight
Floor Speech
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Ms. SEWELL of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, today on this Restoration Tuesday, I rise to acknowledge the continued voter suppression around the country during this election year and the ongoing battle to protect the constitutional right to vote. While the House was in recess, the state of Wisconsin seemed to digress in a decline of democracy through its restrictive voting laws hindering the most essential right on which this great democracy was founded; the right to vote. The newly implemented voter ID laws of Wisconsin have been compared to the poll taxing of the Jim Crow era and created a significant hardship disproportionately affecting some of the state's most vulnerable groups seeking identification to vote. After the Supreme Court struck down Section 4 pre-clearance requirements in 2013, several states, including Alabama, took that ruling as a license to trample on the Constitution and violate the voting rights of vulnerable communities and constituents across the nation. This election year has been especially revealing of the great danger involved in silencing the American voice and hindering their Constitutional right to vote. Enough is enough, and this continued voter suppression must stop now. As devastating as it has been to see this ongoing suppression of the American vote, we can find strength and hope in our country's strong stance for democracy and equality when we look to the recent Supreme Court Ruling on the Texas ``one person, one vote'' case. The Supreme Court's refusal to change the way state and municipal districts are drawn and upholding representation based on total population truly affirmed our nation's brand as a democratic society. The Justices of the Supreme Court delivered a strong singular statement that being ineligible to vote doesn't make one invisible. Fundamental to our democracy is that all men and women are vested with certain inalienable rights and voting is essential to those founding principles. Permanent residents have rights, the disabled should be protected, immigrants and the incarcerated should be included. The Supreme Court decision makes it clear that all people matter and all people should be counted. We must remember that we are always more powerful united than divided and we all must continue to support equal representation and full protection of voting rights for all Americans. On this Restoration Tuesday, I give us all the charge to battle against the continued suppression of the American vote and stand strong by our principles of democracy, liberty and justice for all.
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