Sunday’s order ordered the heads of all federal agencies to submit proposals to their respective agencies to promote voter registration and participation within 200 days, while assisting countries with voter registration under the National Act on Voter Registration. In addition, the General Services Administration would order the modernization of the federal government’s Vote.gov portal.
“The president’s commitment to democracy includes making it easier and fairer for all eligible Americans to exercise their fundamental right to vote,” a government official told reporters on Saturday, adding that Sunday’s executive order “resources” of the federal government will use to give citizens opportunities to register to vote, and to learn about and participate in the election process. ‘
Biden is expected to announce the order during virtual remarks during the Martin and Coretta King Unity Breakfast, an annual event commemorating ‘Bloody Sunday’, in which African-American protesters demanding the right to vote were brutally beaten by police while they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. Alabama.
“For the federal agencies, many of them have footprints across the country, with offices in which people can step outside the context of a pandemic and seek services,” the official told reporters on Saturday. We want to make sure that we can make the most of the use of that kind of walk-in services and that these are places where people can also register to vote – the aim is to make registration for voting and access to the vote as easy as possible. ‘
The executive order also extends access to and registration efforts to voters for communities that are often disregarded, including the disabled, military servants abroad, and prisoners.
The official acknowledged on Saturday that in many cases the president did not have the authority to reverse such provisions at the state level, and acknowledged that laws such as those recently passed by Georgia’s GOP – controlled State House restrict early voting. would require an act of Congress.
“The president has no executive authority to prevent a state from doing so,” they said. “It will require congressional action – so this executive order uses all the authority the president has to take the necessary steps to make voter registration and access to voters easy and straightforward for people, and it also uses the president’s bullying chair. to send a message to all states and to all voters about the importance of democracy. ‘