Voting Rights Are Worth Defending
Posted by:
SuperUser Account
on
1/21/2012
On Tuesday over 300 of you took the time to travel to Richmond and participate in the democratic process by voicing your concerns to your elected Delegates and Senators! At a time when Washington is gridlocked and the political discourse seems more vitriolic than ever before, your actions on Tuesday demonstrated a profound belief in the power of an educated and engaged citizenry.
But as the week progressed, we saw the very same democratic values come under attack as some legislators moved to make voting more difficult for ordinary Virginians. Voting is a constitutionally protected right, and is at the very core of what it means to be an American. It is with our vote that we express our opinion about the types of leaders we want representing us and it is with that same vote that we are able to hold them accountable for their actions and the policies they put in place.
While it is important to be vigilant about protecting the integrity of the voting process, our government must not make it more difficult for qualified voters to participate in our democracy. But some politicians are now using the threat of voter fraud to construct barriers in accessing that process. However, a study by the Brennan Center for Justice found that voter fraud is extremely rare, and efforts to make voting more difficult disproportionately affect minorities, the young, the elderly and the poorest in our communities.
Rather than spending time and energy addressing a nonexistent problem, our legislators should be working to make the political process as accessible as possible and respond to the needs of their communities. At the time it was founded, American democracy was revolutionary because it was built upon values of representation and participation. Today it is far more representative of the Americans it was designed to serve, but we must continue to work to protect the ability of ordinary citizens to participate.