On the 56th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, President Joe Biden is expected to announce a new executive order with several measures aimed at expanding the American electorate.
The order comes as proposed voting rights legislation faces an uncertain future in the Senate, and voter suppression efforts allegedly addressing a nonexistent election integrity crisis are underway in GOP-controlled statehouses across the country.
Administration officials say Biden will announce the directives via a virtual appearance this morning as part of the annual Bloody Sunday commemoration, being held virtually due to the pandemic.
This year’s Jubilee is the first since the death of Congressman John Lewis, an Alabama native, civil rights icon and lifelong champion of voting rights who was nearly killed by state troopers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Bloody Sunday.
The order calls for all federal agencies to create plans for expanding voter registration access and education within 200 days; for the federal govt to offer voting infrastructure help to states under the National Voter Registration Act; update voter.gov and (con’t)
analyze barriers to voting for disabled Americans; increase voting access for military and overseas voters; provide voting access and education for voters in federal custody; and to establish a group to protect the voting rights of Native Americans.
It’s unclear how many voters the order could add to the rolls, and the measures won’t stop actions that may be taken by states. But they do signal a proactive approach at the federal level to increased voter participation, and officials say the order is “an initial step.”
Administration officials also point out that recent Census data shows 76 million eligible Americans are not registered to vote, and add that the U.S. has among the lowest participation rates in the world compared to similar democracies.
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