FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
January 20, 2022

Government Accountability Project Denounces Senate Rejection of the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act

WASHINGTON – Yesterday, the Senate blocked the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, a voting rights bill that would ensure voters can safely and freely cast their ballots, protect against election sabotage, curtail partisan gerrymandering, and limit the influence of dark money in politics. As a public interest organization, Government Accountability Project condemns the Senate decision to reject this essential piece of legislation that would protect our democracy from those who threaten it after the events of the 2020 presidential election.

Government Accountability Project is committed to defending our nation’s election system, which is why we launched the Democracy Protection Initiative in 2020. This program provides know-your-rights resources to employees that may need to blow the whistle on threats to our fragile democracy. It’s not enough for citizens of conscience to protect election integrity and the franchise though – lawmakers must act.

Government Accountability Project Executive Director and CEO Louis Clark Commented:

“In a democracy, there is nothing more critical than the right to vote and have that vote counted, equally. Shockingly, numerous state governments are finding ways to throw obstacles into the voting process for no other reason than to make voting more difficult for some and far less so for others. This shameful development has parallels to the Jim Crow era when Black people in the South who won the right to vote and then were systematically disenfranchised to such an extreme that in Mississippi, for example, only 3% of the Black population could even vote before 1964. When the history of this devolution in democracy is written, it will not be kind to the political leaders who took us in this unfortunate direction or allowed it to happen on their watch.”

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Contact: Andrew Harman, Communications Director
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (202) 926-3304

Government Accountability Project

Government Accountability Project is the nation’s leading whistleblower protection organization. Through litigating whistleblower cases, publicizing concerns and developing legal reforms, Government Accountability Project’s mission is to protect the public interest by promoting government and corporate accountability. Founded in 1977, Government Accountability Project is a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.