Durbin Calls Out The Trump Administration For Their Efforts To Undermine Voting Rights Across The Country

Durbin Calls Out The Trump Administration For Their Efforts To Undermine Voting Rights Across The Country

Durbin: "Across this country, Republican lawmakers and litigators are using every trick in the book to rig the rules of the game in their favor and cling to power"

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, joined Senate Democrats in speaking on the floor condemning the Trump Administration's efforts to undermine the right to vote. The floor speech comes after a successful election night for Democrats-where the American people overwhelmingly rejected the Trump Administration's disastrous policies. During his remarks, Durbin highlighted the numerous ways the Trump Administration is attacking voting rights across the country.

"There has been an effort for years to restrict access to the ballot under the false banner of 'election integrity.' Under the Trump Administration, this effort is being led by the very government entities created to protect the right to vote. This betrayal is deliberate and strategic, and it is eroding the foundation of our democracy. Let me be clear: There is no longer a functioning federal entity actively safeguarding each Americans' right to vote-our most fundamental constitutional freedom," said Durbin.

The Trump Administration has completely gutted the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division. Under the Trump Administration's reimagined mission, aligned with MAGA politics and driven by the lie of widespread voter fraud, the Civil Rights Division's Voting Section has abdicated its role in confronting the real and rising tide of disenfranchisement. Attorney General Pam Bondi removed the Voting Section's leadership team and ordered the dismissal of all the Section's active cases. The Voting Section is responsible for enforcing the federal laws that were enacted to protect the right to vote, including the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, the National Voter Registration Act, and the Help America Vote Act.

Durbin also noted that the Trump Administration ordered the Justice Department to monitor polling sites in California and New Jersey before yesterday's election at the request of state Republican Party officials.

"While election monitoring is a crucial tool, deploying monitors on a partisan basis is outrageous. We know that voter fraud is extremely rare-but President Trump and Republicans continue to baselessly claim it is rampant [in an effort to] suppress the vote," said Durbin.

Durbin then spoke on the need for the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore and strengthen the Voting Rights Act. Durbin introduced the bill earlier this year-along with U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA).

"This legislation should be a no-brainer. The issue of access to the ballot used to enjoy overwhelming bipartisan support… But since the conservative majority in a divided, 5-4 Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in its 2013 Shelby County decision, this has become an increasingly partisan issue," said Durbin.

"Attacks on voting rights aren't happening in a vacuum. Across this country, Republican lawmakers and litigators are using every trick in the book to change the rules of the game in their favor and cling to power. Purging voter rolls, closing polling places, restricting mail-in voting, and undermining the Voting Rights Act all for one purpose: to limit access to the ballot box," Durbin continued.

Durbin concluded, "We now face a critical question: will we sit idly by while Trump and MAGA Republicans steamroll the great American experiment, or will we cause some 'good' and 'necessary' trouble, as John Lewis once said, to save our democracy-and our 'precious, almost sacred' right to vote?"

Video of Durbin's remarks on the Senate floor is available here.

Audio of Durbin's remarks on the Senate floor is available here.

Footage of Durbin's remarks on the Senate floor is available here for TV Stations.

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