While Late Representative John Lewis was in good condition at the Capitol Rotunda, Senator Mitch McConnell spoke by praising his life and work. “John Lewis lived and worked urgently,” McConnell said, “because the task was urgent.”
The majority leader in the Senate is advancing at a much quieter pace. The Chamber approved a new COVID-19 relief bill in May. The Senate, after two vacations, nonetheless took an invoice at the end of July. At the time of writing, negotiations in Congress have stalled and the president has issued new executive orders and memos.
Neither the Senate-proposed package nor President Donald Trump’s executive moves come with a $3.6 billion election allocation available nationwide that was part of the House Bill. These budgets are essential for state and local governments that lose cash and would be a suitable tribute to Representative Lewis, who risked his life to earn the right to vote for blacks.
By 2020, even during a pandemic, there is no explanation for why to force someone to threaten their life to vote or paint at the ballot box. Safe and practical responses are imaginable and essential as a component of our national reaction to a fatal pandemic. Resources are needed to control higher mail voting prices and mandatory adjustments to ensure that face-to-face voting remains available and secure to voters, election staff and volunteers.
We are members of the Board of Directors of the Democracy Initiative, a coalition of 75 organizations fighting for economic, racial and social justice to increase voter turnout and reduce the influence of cash on politics. We are mobilizing our forty-five million combined members, who are calling for a safe vote, to ensure that the $3.6 bill for election investment is included in coVID-19’s latest relief bill. We are also working to secure a $25 bill to the U.S. Postal Service, which provides an important infrastructure for the entire voting bureaucracy.
It’s not just about honoring a respected member of Congress. It’s about honoring the will of the electorate. Faced with many unprecedented obstacles: a crisis of public aptitude, an orchestrated repression against the electorate, and a new wave of chaos caused by federal troops storming our cities, the electorate accumulated in giant numbers, state after state, season number one this year.
It is time to launch a unified appeal from all stakeholders to ensure that elected officials respond to this call for a safe and available vote. In fact, we want to hear the harsh voice of the American business community. After all, American companies have a strong interest in maintaining the long history of political stability in the United States, which is actually at risk this year, because it promises the business climate that has made ours the largest economy in the world. Wealthy corporations, which can probably invest unlimited sums in the electoral process, have long had an internal merit in influencing Congress.
In reaction to a protest dynamic opposed to structural and strategic racism led by Black Lives Matter, business leaders are now denouncing racial and social inequalities. What social factor is more vital than preventing the suppression of the electorate and cutting off all available barriers and choices? Voting is a key tool to combat racism and make political adjustments mandatory to bring justice to disadvantaged communities of their rights and marginalized.
Obstructing the post office: My great-grandfather faced danger as a factor. You’d be surprised at the Trump war opposed to the USPS.
The U.S. Senate’s inability to make modest investment in our democracy stands in contrast to the massive sums paid to those who least love it. Wealthy firms have captured a significant portion of federal spending that is intended to help staff and small businesses. Companies earn billions of dollars in financial aid, adding billions in tax exemptions for fossil fuel polluters. And now corporations are pushing to not be responsible for COVID-related lawsuits.
Amid this personal gains maneuver, we are pleased to see a segment of the U.S. business network speak for the public interest, with a call to Congress to provide the “necessary funding for voting security.” But more voices from the personal sector are needed to sign up for this chorus, with the full weight of its lobbying ability and political power.
We are facing an under-funded electoral system, a planned slowdown in the U.S. Postal Service. And a constant repression of the electorate. This is unacceptable. No one leaves polling stations crowded and harmful and an uncontitutable electorate disadvantaged by their rights, especially in black and brown communities.
Unfair fighting: Trump is determined to manipulate this election, defraud the electorate and thwart the will of the people
John Lewis ready to suffer savage beatings to protect the right to vote. Our challenge for business leaders is much less overwhelming: just dial your phone.
For those who now occupy privileged positions, their legacy will not be decided by the number of socially conscious classified ads they paid for, or by the fact that it has set the right tone on social media. Instead, ask yourself the following question: one of the most difficult moments in American history, will you use your strength and influence to create, for everyone, a safe, fair, and available election?
Tefere Gebre (@Tefere_Gebre) is executive vice president of AFL-CIO; Gustavo Torres (@casaexec) is Executive Director of CASA; Karen Hobert Flynn (@KHobertFynn) is president of Common Cause; K. Sabeel Rahman (@ksabeelrahman) is president of DEMOS; Erich Pica (@erichpica) is president of Friends of the Earth; Virginia Kase (@KaseVirginia) is executive director of the League of Women Voters; Derrick Johnson (@DerrickNAACP) is president and chief executive officer of NAACP; and Ray Curry is Secretary-Treasurer of United Auto Workers. The authors are part of the democratic initiative board.