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Pelosi on Voter Protection: ‘We Cannot Allow the Birthright of America to be Stolen’
Wednesday, September 6, 2006
Contact: Brendan Daly/Jennifer Crider, 202-226-7616
Washington, D.C. – House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi joined Representatives John Conyers (D-MI), Rush Holt (D-NJ), Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-MI), and Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), and voting rights experts at a voter protection roundtable today:
“This isn’t about politics, this is about democracy. This is about the Constitution of the United States. This is about every vote counting and every person having the access to vote.
“We come here today to do a service to democracy and to honor our Constitution, which we all take an oath of office to support, defend, and uphold. For us to allow the suppression that we know takes place, to continue without putting the brightest possible spotlight on it, is an abdication of our own responsibility.
“The President came to the NAACP earlier this year and he talked about how some in the African American community did not have confidence in the Republican Party. He extended a hand of friendship, but his own party has initiated statutes in states across the country that involve crippling registration requirements, felony penalties targeting voter registration groups, and photo identification laws that amount to modern-day poll taxes. The Department of Justice has politicized voting rights enforcement and is asleep at the switch. But thanks to the efforts of many of you here, the courts have struck down or enjoined some, but not all, of these statues.
“We cannot allow the birthright of America to be stolen. What we want to come out of here today is an evaluation of where we are, an inventory of what our resources are, and a plan to ensure for the opportunity for every person to do his or her own part.
“We expect the election to be held with integrity, but we know that there are forces that seek to undermine that goal.
“This is as an important a fight as upholding the Constitution, promoting democracy and freedom that all our young men and women in uniform fight for. We have a just cause. We have to employ every asset at our disposal.”
