Editor: In our Democratic Republic our vote is our voice. It’s our right and it must be protected, not suppressed.
Whenever Black people have made any inroads to equality, there has always been white backlash. Thousands of riots and lynchings occurred at the end of Reconstruction when the first Black legislators were elected in the South.
The Jim Crow era ushered in new laws enacted by white-dominated state legislatures to disenfranchise and remove any gains made by Black people. These laws imposed severe voting restrictions.
During that era, the filibuster was used in the Senate to prevent an anti-lynching bill in the 1920’s and again, a century later, by Rand Paul to hold up another anti-lynching bill.
The 2020 presidential election broke records for voter turnout, including the number of minorities that cast a ballot.
Georgia also saw a high turnout of Black voters in its January Senate runoff elections.
So, now Republican state legislators across forty-three states have introduced bills to restrict voting rights, including Colorado. This is not a coincidence.
Therefore HR1, the For The People Act, is essential. It will enshrine certain protections in federal elections. As more racist symbols are removed from prominent places in our country, let’s remove the filibuster from the Senate so that those elected truly represent all of those who could vote, and did vote, because it was convenient, easily accessible and secure.
— Lynne Popkowski, via letters@sentinelcolorado.com
HR1 is a horrible bill, trying to address problems that don’t really exist but the Left wants you to believe they do. It also takes away rights from the states. States run their own elections, period. That is how it has been since DAY ONE. I can’t think of one single reason to strip the states of that right. This is a power grab and nothing more. ALL Americans should be appalled by this bill.