Jon Ossoff Takes a Stand: Will Introduce “Right to Vote Act” in the Senate

Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 01:36 pm

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Senator Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) announced that he will introduce the “Right to Vote Act” in the Senate.

The legislation would create a statutory right to vote in elections, would prevent states from limiting the right to vote without justification, and ensure that every vote is counted. It has received the endorsement of Fair Fight Action, and the ACLU Voting Project.

Ossoff said he encourages activists “to keep pushing because the right to vote is fundamental.”

“People bled and died to secure it,” he added. “There does not exist in U.S. law an affirmative guarantee of the right to vote, and so the Right to Vote Act, which I’m introducing this week, establishes that affirmative guarantee of voting rights. It holds that any American citizen can challenge a state law which diminishes or restricts the right to vote, which makes it harder to vote, and require any state in our union to justify those restrictions with specific purpose and justification and to demonstrate that it is the least restrictive means to achieving their ends.”

Ossoff noted that the Right to Vote Act “may move as part of a broader measure,” supporting the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.

Above all, the legislation would “establish that every American has the right to vote and “any state that would impair, restrict or reduce it must be held to the highest standard and that American citizens can take them to court.”

Ossoff said the Biden administration is committed to securing and protecting voting rights and encouraged activists and grassroots organizers “to continue to push Congress and to continue to push all of us here to advance federal legislation that will secure the franchise in the face of state legislatures across the country that are restricting access to the ballot for purely partisan ends on the basis of [ex-President] Donald Trump’s lies about the last election.”

You can watch his interview in the video below.

Alan Herrera

Alan is a writer, editor, and news junkie based in New York.