Great job by VA House Majority Leader Charniele Herring on “The Last Word” last night, talking about Republican voter suppression efforts and the importance of voting rights. Here’s an excerpt:
“That is where [Republicans’] focus is…on giving life to Jim Crow…not about traffic…about improving schools…what the Republican brand is is what we see happening in Georgia…People love voting…I tell you, it was heartwarming to see people turning out early in Virginia last presidential election…we should WANT people to vote. This is a party, the Republican Party, I will say, that they talk about how great it is when there is low voter turnout because they have a possibility of winning. That should not be happening. That is our sacred franchise – voting.”
So, so true…well said, Majority Leader Herring!
“It has been an incredible journey. But what was key is that we did not lose our values – we fought for our values, we fought for voting rights every session, bills constantly put in. And we were not discouraged; we kept pushing and pushing until we got to the majority. And what was important is that we ran diverse candidates. And…our values, the values of the Democratic Party are the values of Virginians, and that’s why we kept winning and finally taking over the legislature. But one of the first things that we did, our first order of business, House Bill 1, which I was honored to introduce, is to have no-excuse absentee voting, expanding voting rights, rolling back voter id, making it more accessible. And I will tell you before we took the majority, we were ranked 49 in the country when it comes to ease to voting and access to the ballot. Now we are number 12 in the nation. We’ve had two measures – this year a Voting Rights Act for the commonwealth of Virginia and restoration of voting rights, and I’m looking forward to our numbers going up.“
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