U.S. President Joe Biden speaks throughout a bipartisan conference on cancer legislation in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, March 3, 2021.
Alex Brandon | Pool | Reuters
President Joe Biden on Sunday signed an executive order focused on assisting to guarantee all Americans deserve to vote by increasing access to citizen registration services and info.
Biden likewise required Congress to bring back the Voting Rights Act, which was signed into law in 1965 following a violent demonstration in Selma, Alabama, that left some individuals hurt.
The late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., who was among the activists leading the march, suffered a fractured skull. Lewis died in 2015.
Biden’s executive order accompanies the 56th anniversary of that demonstration, called Bloody Sunday.
“Today, on the anniversary of Bloody Sunday, I am signing an executive order to make it easier for eligible voters to register to vote and improve access to voting,” Biden stated in ready remarks.
“Every eligible voter should be able to vote and have that vote counted. If you have the best ideas, you have nothing to hide. Let the people vote.”
Biden’s executive order is an “initial step,” according to the White House. The president prepares to deal with Congress to bring back the Voting Rights Act, which removed prejudiced practices such as needing literacy tests in order to vote.
“I also urge Congress to fully restore the Voting Rights Act, named in John Lewis’ honor,” Biden stated.
In 2013, the Supreme Court revoked a main slab of the act which needed 9 states with a history of discrimination, primarily in the south, to get federal approval to alter their election laws.
Rep. John Lewis in Selma, Alabama.,on Feb. 14, 2015.
Bill Clark | CQ Roll Call | Getty Images
Biden likewise prepares to deal with legislators to pass the For the People Act that was gone by the House recently, that includes extra reforms to make ballot “equitable and accessible.”
“This is a landmark piece of legislation that is urgently needed to protect the right to vote, the integrity of our elections, and to repair and strengthen our democracy,” Biden stated.
Biden’s executive order intends to take preliminary actions towards making the surveys more available to Black and other minority citizens, consisting of Native Americans and individuals with impairments.
It likewise requires efforts to enhance access to choosing federal staff members, active service armed force and other citizens overseas, and Americans in federal jail.
The executive order directs federal firms to increase citizens’ access to registration and info on elections online, along with through more routine circulation of vote by mail and citizen registration applications.
The executive order likewise requires federal firms to much better collaborate with state federal governments on citizen registration, along with for upgrading the site Vote.gov.
