WASHINGTON (AP) – A new executive order of President Joe Biden, commands federal agencies to take a series of steps to promote access to the vote, a step that comes as Democrats push Congress to pass a comprehensive vote on voting and election oppose attempts to restrict access to the voice.
His plan was announced at a recorded address on the 56th anniversary of ‘Bloody Sunday’, the 1965 incident in which about 600 civil rights activists were maliciously beaten by state troops as they tried to vote for suffrage in Selma, Alabama.
“Every voter must be able to vote and make it count,” Biden said in his prepared remarks to Martin and Coretta King Unity Breakfast on Sunday. ‘If you have the best ideas, you have nothing to hide. Let the people vote. ”
Biden’s order contains several modest stipulations. It orders federal agencies to expand access to voter registration and election information, urges heads of federal agencies to come up with plans to give federal employees time to vote or volunteer as volunteer workers, and propose a revision of the Voice of Government. gov website.
Democrats are trying to bolster support for House Resolution 1, which affects virtually every aspect of the election process. It was approved Wednesday on an almost party line vote, 220-210.
The suffrage bill contains provisions to restrict the partisan processing of congressional districts, remove barriers to voting, and provide transparency to a murky campaign funding system that enables wealthy donors to regulate political affairs anonymously.
Democrats say the bill will help suppress voter oppression, while Republicans see the bill as undesirable federal interference in the state’s authority to hold their own elections.
The fate of the bill is far from certain in the now divided Senate. Conservative groups have launched a $ 5 million campaign to persuade moderate Democrats in the Senate to resist the rule needed to pass the measure.
With his executive order, Biden wants to put the spotlight on the issue and use the gloomy commemoration of Bloody Sunday to bring the matter so much into play.
Bloody Sunday was a deliberately shocking turning point in the civil rights movement that led to the adoption of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Similarly, Biden hopes the U.S. Capitol will be sacked by a pro-Donald Trump mob on January 6th. proves that Congress is a call to action to improve voter protection
“In 2020 – with our democracy going – even in the midst of a pandemic – more Americans voted than ever before,” Biden said in his prepared remarks. ‘Instead of celebrating this powerful demonstration of voting, we saw an unprecedented uprising on our Capitol and a brutal attack on our democracy on 6 January. An attempt never before seen to ignore, undermine and undo the will of the people. ‘
Biden’s remarks also pay tribute to the late civil rights giant Rev. CT Vivian, Rev. Joseph Lowery and Representative John Lewis. All played critical roles in the 1965 organizing efforts in Selma and all died in the past year.