Voting Rights: Joe Biden Signs Order For More Voter Access, Counteracts Republican Efforts

President Joe Biden signed an executive order on “Bloody Sunday” that will expand voter access. The order comes amid broader efforts by Democrats to prevent voter suppression.

“Bloody Sunday" took place in 1965 in Selma, Alabama, on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Alabama state troopers attacked 600 unarmed civil rights activists as they tried to march for voting rights.

“Every eligible voter should be able to vote and have it counted,” Biden said in pretaped remarks on Sunday.

“If you have the best ideas, you have nothing to hide. Let the people vote.

“In 2020 — with our very democracy on the line — even in the midst of a pandemic – more Americans voted than ever before. Yet instead of celebrating this powerful demonstration of voting — we saw an unprecedented insurrection on our Capitol and a brutal attack on our democracy on Jan. 6. A never-before-seen effort to ignore, undermine and undo the will of the people.”

The executive order is a mostly modest effort to improve voter access. It simply modernizes Vote.gov and directs federal agencies to "evaluate ways in which the agency can, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, promote voter registration and voter participation."

The move by Biden comes as Republicans have made efforts to restrict ballot access. Over 250 bills across 43 states led by Republicans have sought to raise barriers to voting, according to the Brennan Center, a nonprofit that tracks voting laws.

Biden has said he supports House Democrats' HR 1, which passed on March 3 and likely won't pass in the Senate. The bill "addresses voter access, election integrity and security, campaign finance, and ethics for the three branches of government."