Voting must be protected

Ihave been elected to office eight times — four times at the local level, twice at the state level and twice at the federal level. If you had asked me along the way to give you a job description, I would have talked about the issues I am passionate about — education, economic opportunity, health care and civil rights.

The Jan. 6 attack reminded me of my overarching job description: the oath I take to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”

Anything else is optional. Carrying out my oath is mandatory.

Of the 1,994 individuals who have had the privilege of serving as U.S. senators, we are the only ones who were subject to an attack on the Capitol by domestic insurrectionists intent on disrupting the peaceful transfer of political power.

That shared experience puts a unique responsibility on our shoulders to “support and defend” this democracy. Only by passing comprehensive voting rights legislation can we live up to that responsibility.

I could never have imagined Jan. 6, nor will I ever forget it.

I was in the Senate Chamber as Ted Cruz raised a specious objection to Arizona’s election results. Soon after debate commenced, Vice President Mike Pence was rushed out of the chamber, Mitt Romney tried to exit the chamber but was sent back in by Capitol Police worried for his safety, and the constitutional process to certify Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ election came to a halt.

We were barricaded in the chamber with Senate staff for 45 minutes, listening to the rampagers outside. At one point, we heard gunfire.

We were eventually escorted to a Senate office building, twice in view of rioters battling with Capitol Police. There, senators and dozens of staff members were packed shoulder to shoulder into one room for hours during the peak of the covid-19 pandemic.

Television screens showed the attack as it was happening.

That attack was promoted by a president willing to trash American democracy and invent lies about election fraud because of his inability to accept that he had lost. It was more than just a violent protest or even a riot.

It was a deliberate attack on a particular day and time, specifically designed to overturn an election in which more than 80 million people had chosen Biden and Harris to be their next president and vice president. It was the biggest voter disenfranchisement effort in recent American history.

Trump’s “big lie” animating the attack on the Capitol — that because he lost, there must have been fraud — is still corroding our democracy.

States with Republican governors and legislatures are using that same lie to restrict access to the ballot, allow partisan politicians to override nonpartisan election officials and even use fines and jail time to punish Americans who help their neighbors vote.

The state officials taking these steps may not be wearing Camp Auschwitz T-shirts, brandishing Confederate symbols or attacking police officers with flags and fence rails. But their objective is the same — to use the “big lie” as a reason to disenfranchise people, particularly communities of color and students.

For months, I have worked with colleagues to craft a bill protecting voting rights and our democracy that all Democratic senators support. Eight of us introduced the Freedom to Vote Act on Sept. 14.

It ensures robust access to the ballot in federal elections, protects our country against foreign and domestic election interference, mandates complete public disclosure of election expenditures and prohibits partisan gerrymandering in congressional redistricting.

This bill will protect the freedom of all Americans — regardless of party or region — to have a voice in choosing their federal officials. I am proud that this bill includes provisions already contained in the laws of both red and blue states. I know it unifies my Democratic Senate colleagues.

There is no reason that it should not also receive strong Republican backing, just as the original Voting Rights Act did during its 1965 passage and many subsequent reauthorizations. Those who try to disenfranchise others, whether by violent attacks or partisan lawyer-designed schemes, are enemies of the Constitution.

Having lived through Jan. 6, we are duty-bound by our oaths to ensure that citizens of this country have the freedom to vote without obstacles or intimidation.

That is what the Freedom to Vote Act does. The Senate must rise to the challenge and pass it.