Republican voter suppression agenda is un-American

Voters turned out in record numbers in 2020. Hundreds-of-thousands of folks in our state cast their ballots and exercised their most fundamental right as an American.

Unfortunately, Republicans across the nation and here in Montana are working around the clock to take that right away.

Today there are 361 bills introduced across 47 states to make it harder for eligible American voters to cast a ballot. In Arizona, Republican lawmakers responded to election losses by quickly introducing a voter suppression bill to make it harder for rural, low-income and minority communities to register to vote, receive a ballot in the mail, and drop it off. In Iowa, GOP lawmakers are pushing a bill to stop election officials from helping to register voters. And perhaps most cruel of all, a new Georgia law makes it a misdemeanor to hand a bottle of water to a voter standing in a long line.

Despite the Trump Administration’s director of the Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency declaring the 2020 election the “most secure in American history,” Republicans have been relentless in their attacks on voting rights. But these attacks are not just happening outside of our borders. Right here in Montana, Republican lawmakers are maneuvering to keep you from voting.

Our state has free and fair elections we can be proud of, but politicians are pushing a radical agenda to pick their voters, instead of letting voters pick who represents them.

Montanans were loud and clear six years ago when they voted to preserve the right to register and vote on Election Day (LR-126). That hasn’t stopped Republicans from ignoring the people of Montana and bringing a bill to end Election Day voter registration, which has ensured more than 60,000 Montanans could cast their ballots.

Republican bills are also targeting students and low-income communities with arbitrary and burdensome voter ID rules and forcing people to register with their county to do something as simple as dropping off a ballot for a friend or neighbor.

But that is not how it has to be. The story of America is the continued fight of its citizens to secure their constitutional right to vote. We fought in wars, marched in the streets, and battled fire hoses and police dogs to extend the right to vote to all Americans.

Year by year, generation by generation, we have fought to make the right to vote more accessible to all citizens of this great nation. The days when former slaves, women, Native Americans, and young adults marching off to war were barred from voting are gone and we cannot afford to let out-of-touch politicians move us backwards. The malicious efforts by Republicans in Montana and statehouses across the nation to push voters out of their democracy is simply un-American, and we must all do our part to fight back.

Instead of trying to keep voters out, we should be working to ensure every eligible Montanan can receive and cast a ballot — no matter who you are, where you live, or who you vote for. Our democracy is strongest when every voice is heard and every vote is counted.

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Sen. Bryce Bennett, D-Missoula, served as a state representative from 2011-18 and was elected to the state Senate in 2019 after he termed out of the House.