Today’s contest in Washington D.C. marks the last of the 2016 Democratic primaries, the last of the ballots cast by voters in a long process to determine who the Democratic nominee will be.
Millions of people have voted, and in the end Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters both in Washington D.C. and in the nation have picked Hillary Clinton.
In honor of this primary season and all of its voters, whether they voted for Hillary Clinton or not during this process, tonight’s topic will be Clinton’s policy set on voting rights.
The right to vote should be, more than anything else, easily accessible by the largest number of Americans possible. That’s the ideal goal of our present democracy, and it’s a goal that the country often seems to be retreating from, instead of advancing towards.
Barriers put in the way of casting a ballot are unacceptable — whether it’s too few polling places on election day, a lack of early voting venues for those with inflexible work schedules, voter ID laws combating phantom “voter fraud”, or opaque voter registration and voter purging methods.
Hillary Clinton has laid out a few simple policies that would make a huge difference in terms of voters’ ability to cast a ballot in their federal, state, and local races.
Hillary has laid out her vision for how to expand access to the ballot box for all Americans and how to defend against the systematic, deliberate efforts to stop millions of citizens from participating in our democracy:
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Repairing the Voting Rights Act. Congress should move quickly to pass legislation that would fix the damage done to the Voting Rights Act by the Supreme Court and restore the full protections American voters need and deserve. These protections are crucial for young and minority voters, seniors, and other underrepresented groups disproportionately affected by harmful Republican efforts to restrict voting.
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Setting a new national standard for early voting. It’s time to set a standard across our country of at least 20 days of early in-person voting, including opportunities for evening and weekend voting. This will reduce long lines and give more people an opportunity to vote, especially those who have work or family obligations during the day. Early in-person voting isn’t just convenient—it’s also more secure, more reliable, and more affordable than absentee voting.
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Implementing universal, automatic voter registration. Every citizen in every state should be automatically registered to vote when they turn 18, unless they choose to opt out. At the same time, we need to make sure that registration rolls are secure, up to date, and accurate. When you move, your registration should move with you. Modernizing registration will add tens of millions of voters to the rolls, cost less, and reduce the potential for errors or irregularities.
(source: hillaryclinton.com)
Night 1: Paid Family Leave
Night 2: Fixing America’s Infrastructure
Night 3: LGBT Rights and Equality
Night 4: Seeking a Cure for Alzheimer’s Disease