Wade Henderson, interim president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, will testify today before the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration on “Emerging Threats to Election Administration.” In his testimony, Henderson highlights the urgency of passing legislation to protect our freedom to vote. 

“State lawmakers have introduced hundreds of anti-voter bills this year alone. The pattern is familiar: Gains in participation in voting among communities of color are met with concerted efforts to impose new barriers in the path of those voters. People of color will bear the brunt of these new restrictions in what amounts to the most significant assault on voting rights since the Jim Crow era,” Henderson says in his testimony.  

“To stem the tide of these emerging threats, and in response to unprecedented efforts to interfere with election results and question the legitimacy of elections, the Freedom to Vote Act takes significant and important steps to make sure people can vote and their votes are counted. Provisions include protecting election officials from improper removal, strengthening protections for election workers, establishing judicial protection of the right to vote and nonpartisan vote-counting, protecting election records by strengthening preservation requirements, and preventing restrictions on food and beverages provided at polling locations. We have approached the time of dealing with the contradiction of what we say we are as a democratic republic, and what we actually are. In this perilous moment, Congress must carry out its duty and swiftly act to make real the promise of our democracy for all,” he adds. 

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 230 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals.  

For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.