June 17, 2021

You can’t have a democracy without strong voting rights. And you can’t have a strong voting rights bill head to President Biden’s desk without Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer steering it through very narrow straits – a task he clearly embraces.

Schumer exuded confidence and a strong sense that he’s on the right side of history in this effort, as he addressed nearly 1,500 voting rights advocates June 16 in a virtual Town Hall hosted by the New York Working Families Party and co-sponsored by UUP.

The topic: the urgent need for Congress to pass Senate Bill No. 1, the “For the People Act,” which would strengthen voting rights. The legislation has passed the House, but could fail by a single vote in the Senate.

And the reason for the urgency? As Schumer explained, the bill needs to be signed into law before the 2022 elections, so that the U.S. Department of Justice can wield its power against dozens of new state laws or pending state bills that aim to restrict voting rights.

“We all know, and especially under the despicable, racist leadership of Donald Trump, how democracy has suffered,” Schumer told the audience. “These bills, sadly, are aimed at people of color. I don’t have to tell you how critical this legislation is to defending our democracy.”

Three-pronged approach to fairer elections

The For the People Act would strengthen voting rights by prohibiting tactics clearly designed to make it more difficult for residents in communities of color to vote, creating uniform rules for congressional redistricting, and creating a fairer system of public financing.

Schumer needs all 50 Democratic Senate votes for the bill to pass. The holdout Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virgina, is open to compromise and Schumer said the two are talking.

At the Town Hall, Schumer was joined by New York Attorney General Letitia James and New York congressmen Jamaal Bowman and Mondaire Jones, of the 16th and 17th districts, respectively.

James delivered impassioned remarks in which she told the audience to think again if they consider voting suppression only a problem of heavily Republican states. Her office just successfully prosecuted a case against two men who ran a robocall operation last year that targeted predominantly Black neighborhoods in New York; the calls falsely told residents that voting would subject them to criminal background checks and other invasions of their privacy.

“Why are so many conservatives, why are so many Republicans, why are so many states, afraid of Democracy?” she asked the audience. “The For the People Act is one of the most important bills pending before Congress. I believe that everyone should have a place at the table.”