Thread by @AriBerman

2018 saw historic victories for voting rights & worst voter suppression in decades

We're becoming pre-Voting Rights Act America, with separate & unequal voting laws

This is why it's so important to restore VRA

motherjones.com/politics/2018/…

Phoebe Einzig-Roth, a freshman at Emory, was “so excited” to vote in GA in 2018. Despite bringing 3 forms of ID to polls she was wrongly flagged as non-citizen & her ballot not counted. “Voter suppression is continuing to happen to 1000s of people all over the country” she said

Voter suppression in 2018 worst in decades:

1.5 mil purged in GA, 53k registrations on hold, 2014 polling places closed, 4.5 hour lines

1.7 mil disenfranchised in FL, 20k absentee ballots rejected

5,000 Native Americans in ND targeted by new voter ID law

Despite rampant suppression, 2018 was also huge year for expanding voting rights

Florida restored voting rights to 1.4 million

MI, MD & NV passed automatic & Election Day registration

CO, MO & MI cracked down on gerrymandering

Big public support for pro-voting rights agenda

House Dems say their first bill of new Congress will be to restore Voting Rights Act. Could be combined with nationwide automatic registration, 2 weeks of early voting in every state & restoring voting rights to ex-offenders. This would be HUGE for voting rights

Voter suppression was a “nightmare” in 2018 says @RepTerriSewell, chief sponsor of bill restoring Voting Rights Act. “Our resolve as Democrats is to put the teeth back into the Voting Rights Act,” she tells me