US President Joe Biden speaks during a bipartisan meeting on cancer legislation at the White House Oval Office in Washington, March 3, 2021.
Alex Brandon | Pool | Reuters
President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Sunday to help ensure that all Americans have the right to vote by increasing access to voter registration services and information.
Biden also asked Congress to reinstate the Voting Rights Act, which was enacted in 1965 after a violent protest in Selma, Alabama, which left some participants injured.
The late Dep. John Lewis, D-Ga., Who was one of the activists leading the march, suffered a fractured skull. Lewis passed away last year.
Biden’s executive order coincides with 56º anniversary of this protest, known as Bloody Sunday.
“Today, on the anniversary of Bloody Sunday, I am signing an executive order to make it easier for qualified voters to register to vote and improve access to voting,” said Biden in prepared comments.
“Every eligible voter must be able to vote and have that vote counted. If you have the best ideas, you have nothing to hide. Let the people vote.”
Biden’s executive order is an “initial step,” according to the White House. The president plans to work with Congress to restore the Voting Rights Act, which eliminated discriminatory practices, such as requiring literacy tests to vote.
“I also urge Congress to fully restore the Voting Rights Act, named after John Lewis,” said Biden.
In 2013, the Supreme Court invalidated a central rule of the law that required 9 states with a history of discrimination, mainly in the south, to receive federal approval to change their electoral laws.
Rep. John Lewis in Selma, Alabama, on February 14, 2015.
Bill Clark | Call QC | Getty Images
Biden also plans to work with lawmakers to pass the People’s Law, passed by the House last week, which includes further reforms to make voting “fair and accessible”.
“This is a legislative framework that is urgently needed to protect the right to vote, the integrity of our elections and to repair and strengthen our democracy,” said Biden.
Biden’s executive order aims to take the first steps to make polls more accessible to black voters and other minorities, including Native Americans and people with disabilities.
It also calls for initiatives to improve access to voting for federal officials, active duty military and other voters abroad and Americans in federal prisons.
The executive order directs federal agencies to increase voter access to registration and information about online elections, as well as through the more regular distribution of voting by mail and electoral registration requests.
The executive order also requires federal agencies to better coordinate voter registration with state governments, as well as to update the Vote.gov website.