Voting Rights

A letter signed by almost 100 small business and community leaders urging Senator Susan Collins to support the “For the People Act” was released at an event at Portland City Hall. More than four dozen people gathered at a rally sponsored by Common Cause to hear local business leaders explain why the bill needs to become law.

"It might be more palatable and that might just be with the way they've learned to sell themselves, but it really is coming from the same place," said Sylvia Albert, the director of voting and elections for the good-government group Common Cause.

In North Carolina, a Democratic governor can successfully veto Republican bills that unnecessarily restrict voting or add partisanship to election supervision. Voting rights groups led by Common Cause have won a landmark court battle to make partisan gerrymandering illegal in North Carolina. Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause North Carolina, said of those who would hinder democracy to hold onto their power, “There’s going to be a ferocious battle if they try anything that is going to damage the integrity of elections or make voting harder.” In that prediction is the enduring meaning of Independence Day. It is not only about a war for democratic freedom fought and won, but a reminder that once attained that victory must be sustained with fresh resolve by every generation of Americans.

“Nobody’s free until everyone is free,” civil rights hero Fannie Lou Hamer said. She is right. That’s why on this Fourth of July, it’s time that we, as Americans, hold ourselves up to the values we claim in our founding documents: that all people are created equal and that “We the People” are responsible for building a more perfect union, based on justice, tranquility and liberty. It’s time we build an inclusive democracy, where everyone has a voice, can exercise their freedom to vote, and is able to participate in our democracy.

“I think we’re going to see a pitched battle at the state level,” said Stephen Spaulding, senior counsel for policy at Common Cause, a public-interest advocacy group. “This sends a signal and emboldens those who would like to make it harder to vote.”