Beatty Leads Lawmakers to Senate, Calls on Senators to Advance Voter Protection Legislation

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Congresswoman and Congressional Black Caucus Chair Joyce Beatty (OH-03) led Black Caucus Members, including Majority Whip Jim Clyburn and Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries, on a march to the Senate to demand swift passage of the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act.

"Today, we march to the Senate to demand action, because one unjust election has the power to set progress back a lifetime," saidBeatty. "We have the American people on our side and regardless of what outcomes we see today, we are not giving up."

Footage of the Congresswoman's remarks outside the Senate Chamber is available here.

Crafted in response to a slew of anti-voter laws passed in GOP-controlled state legislatures, the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act would, among other things,

• Establish Election Day as a federal holiday.
• Enact an automatic voter registration through each state's motor vehicle agency and ensure online voter registration.
• Restore the right to vote in federal elections for people who have served time for a felony conviction after being released from prison.
• Strengthen protections for federal election records.
• Require states to use voter-verified paper ballots, reliable audits, and provide grants for new and more secure voting systems.
• Put in place election vendor cybersecurity standards.
• Standardize congressional redistricting and ban partisan gerrymandering.
• Require preclearance for states that have engaged in 15 or more voting violations within the last 25 years and for localities that engaged in 3 or more violations in the last 25 years.

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