Lawmakers, democracy advocates, and community members joined a press conference in a strong show of support for the COVRA

Denver, CO — Yesterday, lawmakers and advocates joined forces in support of the Colorado Voting Rights Act (Bill 001) at a press conference at the State Capitol. Senator Julie Gonzales, Assistant Majority Leader Jennifer Bacon, and Representative Junie Joseph were joined by leaders from a diverse, grassroots coalition of 43 community organizations.

The Colorado Voting Rights Act (COVRA) replicates and strengthens the national Voting Rights Act legislation to prohibit discrimination in elections and voting, ensuring all eligible voters have the right to be heard at the ballot box and a right to fair representation. If passed, the legislation would also provide new protections for LGBTQ+ voters and eligible voters confined in jails, create access to multilingual ballots in local elections, strengthen access to voting for people with disabilities, and establish a publicly available resource for election information.

Forty-three organizations including the ACLU of Colorado, League of Women Voters of Colorado, Colorado Black Women for Political Action, Rocky Mountain NAACP State Conference CO-MT-WY, the Colorado Women’s Bar Association, and the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition support the COVRA. The Black Democratic Legislative Caucus, the Colorado Democratic Latino Caucus, and the Democratic Women’s Caucus of Colorado all support the bill, in addition to dozens of county and municipal elected officials, including Lakewood City Council and the Board of Boulder County Commissioners.

Select quotes from the press conference, in order of speakers, are below:

“The current administration is dismantling the Department of Justice as we speak. It has instructed the department’s civil rights division to cease all efforts to enforce the Voting Rights Act and to pull out of active litigation to defend these long-standing protections. It is clear that there has not been a more urgent time for Colorado to act — to codify our own voter protections in state law. That is why I am so honored and humbled to sponsor the Colorado Voting Rights Act.”

– Senator Julie Gonzales (Senate District 34)

“As a child of someone who lived through the Civil Rights Movement… it is a distinct privilege to be here to carry this bill. We know that some people paid with their lives so that all people could vote. 

Doctor King didn’t do this just for a particular demographic. Medgar Evers didn’t die just for one demographic. He died to put a stake in the ground around what makes America strong, and that people who take a part in its everyday operating — who raise their families, who go to work — have a say in who represents them. That is the American dream.” 

– Assistant Majority Leader Jennifer Bacon (House District 7)

“If the Voting Rights Act of 1965 no longer stands, we lack the legal tools to confront restrictive voting rules and unfair election methods that systematically drown out the voices of communities of color. We cannot go back to an America where the basic anti-discrimination protections put in place by the civil rights movement are no more.”

– Representative Junie Joseph (House District 10)

“The right to vote is a fundamental pillar of our democracy, and while Colorado has made great strides in ensuring that we increase participation and improve ballot collection administration, there’s still much work to be done when it comes to voting. The Colorado Voting Rights Act will serve this purpose of ensuring the right to vote by protecting against discrimination, by enhancing voter participation, by strengthening public confidence in our election system, and by ensuring that everyone can exercise the franchise.”

– Terrance Carroll, former Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives & President of the Sam Cary Bar Association