Protecting voting rights is the only way to make US government work for the people | Derrick Johnson

Progress on all of the issues we care about is at risk while voting rights continue to be denied

Just weeks after a deeply unrepresentative US Senate voted down establishing a commission to investigate one of the most significant attacks on our democracy on 6 January, 50 senators who represent 41m fewer voters than the majority in power blocked bold voting rights reforms that would make our government work for the people. Already, the national conversation is pivoting away from voting rights and toward whether the same fate can be expected for other prominent bills on infrastructure and police reform.

What's missing is a much-needed reckoning that no meaningful and lasting change on what the majority of Americans want - reforming law enforcement, bold economic recovery, but also better public schools, climate action, and high-paying union jobs, among others - will be possible if we don't rebuild our democracy from the ground up first. That's what the For the People Act aimed to do. By preventing politicians from skewing congressional districts in their favor, reducing the influence of special interests, and ensuring all eligible voters can make their voices heard. Simply put, there cannot be genuine economic, social, and racial justice without full voting rights and institutions that answer to the people.