San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Advocates rally Dems to reverse GOP restrictions
WASHINGTON — Thousands of voting rights advocates rallied across the country Saturday to call for sweeping federal laws that would wipe out voting restrictions advancing in some Republicancontrolled states that could make it harder to cast a ballot.
Many activists view the fight over voting rules as the civil rights issue of the era. But frustrations have mounted for months because two expansive election bills have stalled in the U.S. Senate, which is split evenly between Democrats and Republicans and the measures lack the votes to overcome a GOP blockade.
The rallies, which were held in dozens of cities, were intended to increase pressure on Democrats to rewrite procedural rules that would allow Democrats to muscle the legislation through without Republican votes. But they were also aimed at coaxing President Biden to become a more forceful advocate on the issue.
“You said the night you won that Black America had your back, and that you were going to have Black Americans’ backs,” the Rev. Al Sharpton, who helped organize the national demonstrations, said at a rally in Washington. “Well, Mr. President, they’re stabbing us in the back.”
More than a thousand people turned out in sweltering heat on the National Mall on Saturday, the 58th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
His son Martin Luther King III used the occasion to call on the Senate to scrap the filibuster rule, which requires 60 votes for most legislation, including the voting bills, to advance.
“Our country is backsliding to the unconscionable days of Jim Crow. And some of our senators are saying, ‘Well, we can’t overcome the filibuster,’” King told the crowd. “I say to you today: Get rid of the filibuster. That is a monument to white supremacy we must tear down.” Even as rally participants pushed for stronger protections, Republican lawmakers in Texas were on the brink of passing an overhaul of its voting laws, including restrictions on voting by mail, limits on when voters can cast ballots and other measures that Republicans say would improve the integrity of its elections.
Texas would be the latest state to pass new laws, following moves in other Republican-controlled states like Arizona, Florida and Georgia to put in place similar restrictions — efforts driven by former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.