Obama Pitches ‘John Lewis Act’ to Expand Voting Rights to Felons, Puerto Rico; Scrap Filibuster
EXCERPT:
OBAMA: "Once we pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, we should keep marching to make it even better by making sure every American is automatically registered to vote, including former inmates who have earned their second chance.
(Applause)
By adding polling places and expanding early voting and making Election Day a national holiday, so if you are somebody who is working in a factory or you’re a single mom who’s got to go to her job and doesn’t get time off, you can still cast your ballot by guaranteeing that every American citizen has equal representation in our government, including the American citizens who live in Washington, D.C., and in Puerto Rico. They’re Americans.
(Applause)
By ending some of the partisan gerrymandering so that all voters have the power to choose their politicians, not the other way around. And if all of this takes eliminating the filibuster, another Jim Crow relic, in order to secure the God-given rights of every American, then that’s what we should do.“