The New York Times published on Sunday, January 9, a letter signed by Michelle Obama entitled “Fight For Our Vote”. Her non-profit organization “When We All Vote” also made the message available. It warns about attacks on voting rights in the country and urges American citizens to fight for Democracy.

The Federal legislation on voting rights, as mentioned earlier, has not yet been approved, and the letter, also signed by other organizations in coalition for the cause, seeks the engagement of voters for the right to vote in the next elections in November 2022. Among these organizations, the following stand out: National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Stacey Abrams' Fair Fight Action, Voto Latino Foundation, NextGen America, LeBron James' More Than A Vote and Rock the Vote.

The message begins by recalling the invasion of the Capitol on January 6, 2021 by supporters of former President Trump: “One year ago, we witnessed an unprecedented assault on our Capitol and our democracy. From Georgia and Florida to Iowa and Texas, states passed laws designed to make it harder for Americans to vote. And in other state legislatures across the nation, lawmakers have attempted to do the same”.

The letter makes reference not only to the turmoil, but also to a series of voting restrictions passed at the state level across the country. Thus, the message goes on to point out the need for civic engagement as a responsibility for the future of American democracy: “We’ve got to vote like the future of our democracy depends on it. And we must give Congress no choice but to act decisively to protect the right to vote and make the ballot box more accessible for everyone”.

According to CNN News’ publication, “Republican-controlled legislatures, particularly in battleground states that saw increased turnout and Democratic victories in 2020, already have enacted a raft of new laws that limit absentee balloting, impose additional ID requirements and otherwise create new hurdles to voting. And more restrictions are likely to pass in upcoming state legislative sessions”.

Also, according to the same publication, the senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, “has set a deadline of Martin Luther King Jr. Day on January 17 to vote on rule changes if Republicans once again block consideration of the bills”. Despite the promise, the Democrats were not successful in the endeavor.

In order to recruit new volunteers and allies to lobby the Senate to pass federal voting rights legislation, and to organize American citizens for this year's midterm elections, the letter guides the following action plan:

• Recruit and train at least 100,000 volunteers throughout 2022 to register and turn out voters in their communities.  

• Register more than a million new voters across the country.

• Organize at least 100,000 Americans to contact their Senators, calling on them to do everything they can to pass the Freedom to Vote Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.  

• Recruit thousands of lawyers to protect voters in the states where the freedom to vote is threatened.  

• Commit to educate voters on how to vote safely in their state.

Commenting on the reasons for the letter signed by Michelle Obama and other related organizations (an unprecedented initiative for the Obama organization), “When We All Vote” Executive Director Stephanie Young declared to CNN: “We spent all 2021 really fighting for federal voting rights legislation. Over 20,000 people took (advocacy) action with us (last year), and we knew going throughout this year, and seeing that Congress was not acting, and that the filibuster was getting in the way, we realized that we really had to take matters into our own hands”.

Another statement, quoted in the same publication, was from Hillary Holley, director of Fair Fight Action (an organization founded by the Democratic candidate for the governor of Georgia, Stacey Abrams) who paid attention to the importance of the cause: “Now, with the GOP's voter suppression campaign ramping up in state houses across the country, Fair Fight Action is proud to join with Michelle Obama and When We All Vote alongside other civil and voting rights organizations to fight back against Republicans' anti-voter agenda. We're ready to work with our allies to recruit new volunteers and keep organizing Americans to push for the Senate to pass new federal protections for voting rights at a time when we need them more than ever”.

All Democrats' efforts are focused on getting the proposed new basic voting rules passed before the midterm elections, which will determine which party will have the greatest concentration of power in Congress. As we discussed in previous issues, Senators Joe Manchin (WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (AZ), despite being Democrats, work together with Republicans to block Joe Biden's initiatives.