Attorney General Holder Issues Challenge to Expand Voting Rights

At the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library & Museum in Austin, Texas, last night, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder gave a stirring speech about the importance of voting rights, reminding us of President Johnson’s observation that “the right to vote is the basic right, without which all others are meaningless.”

Holder’s speech caps a year in which 14 states passed legislation that makes it harder for citizens to vote – legislation that civil rights groups and voting rights experts say is the most sophisticated attack on voting rights since the Jim Crow era.

Holder said:

As concerns about the protection of this right and the integrity of our election systems become an increasingly prominent part of our national dialogue – we must consider some important questions.   It is time to ask: what kind of nation – and what kind of people – do we want to be?  Are we willing to allow this era – our era – to be remembered as the age when our nation’s proud tradition of expanding the franchise ended?   Are we willing to allow this time – our time – to be recorded in history as the age when the long-held belief that, in this country, every citizen has the chance – and the right – to help shape their government, became a relic of our past, instead of a guidepost for our future?

Holder discussed the work that the Justice Department is doing to protect the right to vote in the United States. And, importantly, he also challenged every American to defend and protect the right to vote:

Only we, the people, can bring about meaningful change.

So speak out.  Raise awareness about what’s at stake. Call on our political parties to resist the temptation to suppress certain votes in the hope of attaining electoral success and, instead, encourage and work with the parties to achieve this success by appealing to more voters. And urge policymakers at every level to reevaluate our election systems – and to reform them in ways that encourage, not limit, participation.

Today, we cannot – and must not – take the right to vote for granted. Nor can we shirk the sacred responsibility that falls upon our shoulders.

Watch the speech: