Your Voting Rights Are Under Attack

How the Trump administration has undermined our democracy – and how I plan on fighting back in Congress.

As a voting rights lawyer and congressman who has spent my entire career defending our fundamental right to vote, it pains and infuriates me that we have reached such a breaking point in our democracy.

Since taking over the White House, Donald Trump and his GOP cronies have made it their mission to undermine our right to vote and shut out millions of Americans from the democratic process. And the damage they’ve caused is immeasurable:

The Nail in the Coffin That Buried the Voting Rights Act

First, the conservative justices on Trump’s Supreme Court effectively killed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 through their ruling in Louisiana v. Callais. This was the single most important piece of civil rights legislation in our nation’s history, one that guaranteed protection from racial discrimination in the drawing of legislative districts. Clearly the court didn’t think so.

Instead, they went ahead and delivered the third of three devastating blows to this landmark legislation – paving the way for states across the country, and particularly in the South, to draw out Black and brown districts and silence minority voters, just like they did here in Texas, including in my very own district.

My hero and mentor, John Lewis, risked his life to get the Voting Rights Act passed. It’s because of him and countless others that every American got the right to vote. That I was able to serve in the administration of the first Black president or even be elected to Congress. That waves of diverse voices were able to take a seat at the table in our democracy in the last half-century.

Now, all that progress is at risk – and that should be alarming to us all.

Just One Vote Away From Tossing the Constitution

Then, the Supreme Court nearly overturned birthright citizenship in Trump v. Barbara – an essential right guaranteed by the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which ensures due process and equal protection under the law.

Paid for by thousands of lives in the Civil War, the protection under this amendment is clear: If you are born in the United States, you are a citizen of the United States. But to an appalling four out of the nine justices on Trump’s handpicked Supreme Court, that basic principle was somehow incomprehensible and therefore worth discarding.

The decision in Trump v. Barbara should have been unanimous – point blank, period. Yet we came dangerously close to scrapping this crucial protection under Trump’s administration and putting the citizenship of countless Americans at risk.

Tallying Up the Damage in the Court’s Final Days

While many mainstream media outlets saw the court’s ruling in Trump v. Barbara as a victory for the rule of law, their optimism was quickly struck down with the barrage of subsequent rulings they released in the final days of the term.

Starting off with their ruling in NRSC v. FEC, the court struck down decades-old limits on how much parties can spend in coordination with candidates, overturning a precedent that had stood since 2001 – essentially allowing more money in our politics and putting our elections up for sale.

If that wasn’t bad enough, then they took a hammer to LGBTQ+ rights when they upheld a state law that banned transgender girls from school sports.

And in a final act of defiance, the court topped off this hodge-podge of rulings by granting Trump unprecedented control of independent agencies created by Congress. That means he can now fire and hire independent agency heads and board members on a whim, essentially stripping authority away from Congress.

Lastly, Trump’s Latest Scam: The SAVE America Act

With all of the trauma that Donald Trump has managed to inflict upon our democracy through just the Supreme Court alone, you would think his assault would end there. But in reality, that was just the beginning.

Now, Trump is moving full-steam-ahead on his attack on our free and fair elections through his prized legislation: the SAVE America Act.

Should this bill come to pass, federal elections would require voter ID at the polls and proof of citizenship to even register to vote. But here’s the thing: more than 21 million Americans don’t have access to the documents needed to meet these heinous requirements. And for hundreds of thousands of married women who have gone on to change their last name, their voting rights could be in jeopardy.

Republicans know this. That’s why so many of Trump’s own supporters in Congress refuse to stand by this bill. Yet despite being met with resistance time and time again, Trump refuses to back down on the SAVE America Act. He even refused to sign a landmark housing bill that would make homeownership and rent more affordable for working families unless Congress passed his ludicrous SAVE America Act.

Let me be clear: Trump does not care about protecting your voting rights. He does not care about making life easier for everyday Americans. He only cares about rigging elections for himself and holding onto power.

It’s Up to Us To Make Things Right

If this administration’s record on voting rights is proof of anything, it’s that we can no longer rely on the courts to protect the right to vote. It’s up to us. We the People must stand up for this foundational right in the halls of Congress and through our daily activism.

I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating: I became a voting rights lawyer largely because of a line in a historic Supreme Court case that basically says: The right to vote is “preservative of all other rights.” And as a candidate, I promise to fight with everything I have to defend the fundamental right to vote for every American.

Once I’m back in Congress, I’ll work to pass the Voting Rights Act of the 2020s. And if you agree that defending voting rights is mission-critical and that minority representation in government is important, I hope you’ll chip in a few bucks to my campaign today to help me get there.

It is now that much more important that we win this race. That we are able to help people register and make it to the polls. That we all work together to ensure as many people as possible get to have a voice in our democracy. I’m not giving up – I never will – and I thank you for being with me in this fight. ✊🏾

– Colin

👋🏾 Before you click away, please read this important message.

Colin Allred is a former civil rights lawyer, NFL linebacker, and congressman who’s running in Texas’ 33rd Congressional District to fight for the community that raised him.

Facing an administration trying to silence minority voices and a Supreme Court failing to protect us, Colin will fight to expand our voting rights from Day One.

Rejecting corporate PAC money, Colin relies on grassroots support to win his district which was racially gerrymandered by the Texas GOP. To elect a champion for working families and flip the House, will you chip in $25 today?

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Paid for by Allred for Texas