Groups from Virginia and across the country are working with federal lawmakers to improve voting rights.
They are building support for voting rights bills like the Freedom to Vote Act, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Native American Voting Rights Act. Virginia passed its own voting rights law in 2021, which is modeled after stronger federal legislation.
Support for Federal Voting Rights Bills
Christine Wood, co-director of a coalition called the Declaration for American Democracy, said the bills can help clarify questions about how to vote.
“It would create national standards for voting,” Wood explained. “No matter what state you moved to or lived in you would have the same baseline access to the polls and the ballots as anyone else.”
Virginia is one of many states purging voter rolls of possible noncitizens, amid false claims noncitizen voting in federal elections is an ardent nationwide problem. The opposite is true.
Noncitizens voting in federal elections rarely occurs. Some think voter registration form errors are the true culprit. The state removed over 6,300 noncitizens from voter rolls since August.
The groups are also building support for a bill to give Washington, D.C., statehood. Bills providing statehood for D.C. passed twice in the House of Representatives but have not gone further.
Chaitram Aklu, a retired teacher and member of the American Federation of Teachers, said it only seems fair since Washington, D.C., does not have the same rights as states.
“There are several hundred thousand people living in D.C.,” Aklu pointed out. “While their representatives are allowed to participate in debate, they do not have a vote and that has been going on for over 220 years.”
He added D.C. already pays more taxes per capita than 22 other states, with higher federal taxes than 19 states.
D.C. residents have said a major reason for statehood is the lack of autonomy they have over the district’s governing bodies.
The President and Congress have the final say on legislation or judicial nominations for D.C. courts.
Meanwhile, they only have a lone representative in the House who does not have voting power and no Senate representation.
