FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 3, 2021
Contact: Jessica Felix Romero jromero@sojo.net
Senate’s Inability to Protect Voting Rights is an Assault on Imago Dei
Statement from Sojourners President Adam Taylor
WASHINGTON, DC - The Freedom to Vote Act (S. 2747), a consequential piece of legislation that would have protected the right to vote for millions of American citizens, failed to pass the Senate on a 50-49 vote today. Since 1965, each of the four reauthorizations of the Voting Rights Act passed with overwhelming support from Congress. In 2006, President George W. Bush signed the last VRA reauthorization after both the House of Representatives (390-33) and the Senate (98-0) approved the measure following an exhaustive review of evidence and testimony demonstrating both its effectiveness and its continued need. This issue is not partisan—it is about people’s freedom and fundamental rights as citizens. And the people have a right to vote and our government has a duty to preserve and protect it.
Sojourners President Rev. Adam Taylor:
I am deeply disappointed that elected officials have decided to continue to hold our country back. The Senate’s inability to vote for a cloture motion for the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021 (S. 4) is an infringement on the freedom to vote for millions of their own fellow citizens. Between January and September of this year, at least 19 states have enacted 33 new laws that restrict our freedom to vote. In total, more than 425 bills with restrictive provisions have been introduced in 49 states in the 2021 state legislative sessions. This has become a national problem that requires a national solution. It suggests that Congress’s commitment to democracy extends only so far as to ensuring that certain rather than all people can exercise this sacred right. Morally, suppressing the right to vote is a direct assault on both our civic equality and our Christian conviction that all people are made in the image of God. Given the Senate’s inability to move forward even with a cloture vote, we ask that you suspend the filibuster to pass these voting rights protections and democracy reforms. Perhaps then we can imagine a day in the future when voting rights truly becomes a bipartisan cause and nonpartisan issue.
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About Sojourners - Sojourners, a faith-inspired nonprofit, articulates the biblical call to social justice through its magazine and digital publication and convenes, equips and mobilizes people to put their faith into action while building alliances for effective advocacy. Sojourners envisions a future in which Christians put their faith into action in the passionate pursuit of social justice, peace, and environmental stewardship, working in partnership with people of conscience and from other faith traditions. https://sojo.net/