Durbin Says Trump Administration Is Undermining Voting Rights at Election Security Forum

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today delivered an opening statement at a spotlight forum on protecting election security as the Trump Administration continues to restrict Americans’ voting rights and President Trump and some congressional Republicans continue to push the SAVE America Act. The spotlight forum comes after the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Louisiana v. Callais, in which the Court further eviscerated the Voting Rights Act (VRA) and held that Louisiana’s congressional map is an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.

Key Quotes:

“Since President Trump took office for a second term, his Administration has worked to systematically disenfranchise Americans and make it much harder to exercise that precious right. His Administration made the extraordinary move to raid an election office in Fulton County, Georgia, and seize ballots due to baseless claims of fraud in the 2020 election… He [Trump] continues to push Congress to pass radical voter suppression legislation—at a time when we should be expanding the right to vote for every legal American, we have a President dreaming up ways to stop it. [That legislation is] called the SAVE America Act, which would upend how states register voters and maintain voting data—and disenfranchise women, young people, and communities of color.”

“Under President Trump, a weaponized Justice Department has sought confidential voter roll data from states in an effort to purge eligible voters and illegally nationalize our elections… In April, the [Supreme] Court significantly weakened what remained of the Voting Rights Act and opened the floodgates for Republican-led states to redraw their congressional maps to gain a partisan edge and dilute the voice of Black Americans. We’re now witnessing a political pressure campaign to rig our elections by enabling politicians to choose their voters—not the other way around.”

“And all of this occurs as President Trump continues to spew the ‘Big Lie’ about the 2020 election—which he has yet to accept he lost—and attempt to sow doubt and mistrust in our electoral process.”

“I am grateful for the opportunity today to push back on these disgraceful lies and tactics of this Administration and hear directly from experts on how state and local election officials see the future [of our] elections. We have fought too long and too hard to ensure that our elections are safe, secure, and accessible for all eligible Americans, and we must work together to combat these despicable disenfranchisement efforts.”

Audio of Durbin’s opening statement is available here.

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