President Trump and his extremist Republican allies in Washington are fighting as hard as they can to weaken our democracy by attacking institutions like the courts and stretching the bounds of executive power to the limits.
They are also trying to restrict voting rights, building on a series of decisions by the conservative U.S. Supreme Court that have rolled back key provisions of the Voting Rights Act.
Trump, for his part, has issued an executive order on trying to roll back voting rights, while Republicans in Congress are seeking to rip up longstanding voter protections by passing the SAVE Act.
Under the false pretext of preventing election fraud, these moves have the potential to disenfranchise millions of Americans across, not only Pennsylvania, but the nation — particularly women, people of color and low-income families.
Yet, at such a perilous moment for our democracy, it’s encouraging that the Pennsylvania House of Representatives has stepped up to meet the moment.
Democrats in Harrisburg recently introduced a landmark voting rights bill, HB 1396, or the Voting Rights Protection Act, sponsored by House Speaker Joanna McClinton herself — a sign of the importance that House leadership places on this issue.
While Trump and his cronies in Washington are trying to make it harder for people to vote, HB 1396 is designed to encourage public participation in our elections by reducing barriers that keep people from casting their ballots.
We know that forcing voters to cast their ballot at a single polling place on Election Day makes it more difficult for working families and shift workers to cast their ballots.
READ: Legal Challenges to Trump’s Executive Order on Elections Rest on a Simple Premise: the Constitution
Responding to that challenge, the legislature passed bipartisan election reform legislation in 2019 that dramatically expanded the use of no-excuse absentee ballots.
Speaker McClinton’s bill builds off of this change and goes much further in reducing barriers to vote by mail while also requiring that counties notify voters who have made mistakes on their ballots to give them a chance to correct those mistakes and have their voices heard.
It also establishes early, in-person voting, bringing Pennsylvania in line with the nearly two-thirds of states who already allow residents to vote early.
Directly heading off a favored tactic of right-wing extremists trying to overturn our elections, the legislation would also reform the election certification process in Pennsylvania, putting in place new safeguards to prevent frivolous challenges while improving voter confidence in the outcomes of our elections by paving the way for the use of new technologies to make the voting process more user-friendly and more efficient.
READ: Pennsylvania Can’t Reject Improperly Dated Ballots, Federal Court Rules
At the same time, this bill would also put to rest another favorite MAGA attack on ballot drop boxes by putting new safeguards in place and requiring that counties across the commonwealth offer a minimum number of dropboxes based on their populations.
We’re pleased that House Democrats placed a premium on expanding ballot access in the face of dire threats from the Trump Administration
Now, we need the state Senate, which is in narrow Republican control, to act.
We’re asking that you call your legislators to ask them to put this critical voting rights bill up for a vote.
Let’s show Donald Trump and his extremist friends what Pennsylvania values look like.
