McKees Rocks residents won’t be arriving at the borough’s municipal building to cast primary ballots for more than two weeks, but voting was on Mayor David Flick’s mind Friday morning. He kicked off a news conference on the topic — or, more specifically, on voting rights — by pointing out that too many United States citizens simply don’t bother to vote.
“Think about the rest of the planet,” he said while standing in a second-floor meeting room of the borough building, which serves as a polling location. “A lot of people risk their lives to show up at a place like this. We get to do it and not even think about it.”
The other speakers, standing nearby, nodded in agreement. They’re among those who have been thinking about it, and they’re concerned voting is becoming more difficult, thanks to voting restrictions Republican lawmakers are putting into place in several parts of the country.
The news conference served as a platform for U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Aspinwall, to unveil the next phase of what he’s calling the Defend Democracy Agenda, which is a slate of federal laws he says are designed to fight back against the “very real threat” posed by right wing officials moving to weaken or tear down the nation’s democratic principles, chief among them the right to vote.
Threats, he said, come in many guises. One example: the 2013 Supreme Court case Shelby County v. Holder, which gutted protections set forth in the 1965 Voting Rights Act. He also noted restrictive laws passed by states with “documented histories of racial voting discrimination.”
“The threats aren’t just laws,” said Deluzio, who represents Pennsylvania’s 17th District, which includes McKees Rocks. “It’s not just state legislatures, people elected, who are causing problems,” he added. “On Jan. 6, 2021, insurrectionists attacked the people’s government ….”
Those people, he said, were “spurred on by right wing lies and conspiracy, primarily Donald Trump’s ‘Big Lie’ and his efforts to steal the 2020 election, overturn the results after losing, and rip our Constitution to shreds.”
A few minutes later, Tiffany Muller of End Citizens United, an organization that states its mission as getting big money out of politics and protecting voting rights, added even more urgency to the discussion.
“At no time in our modern history has our democracy been this vulnerable,” she said. “The freedom to vote is under assault in ways we haven’t seen since the Jim Crow era.”
Deluzio’s solution to this onslaught is divided into a few phases. Back in January, he announced the first, which includes several pieces of legislation focused on strengthening congressional ethics, creating more transparency among government officials and fighting corruption. These measures, Deluzio said, would bolster public trust.
The second phase, which he unveiled Friday morning, seeks to strengthen and expand voting rights. Its key elements are two pieces of legislation: The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, named after the late congressman and Civil Rights icon, and the Freedom to Vote Act.
Advocates say these laws will repair the damage inflicted by the Shelby County v. Holder decision by protecting voting rights, ending partisan gerrymandering, curtailing the influence of big money and safeguarding the electoral process.
”Together with the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, the Freedom to Vote Act would be the most comprehensive pro-democracy law enacted in my lifetime,” Deluzio said. “Congress came pretty close to getting it done in 2022. I don’t think our democracy can wait much longer.”
Muller, who serves as president of End Citizens United, agreed.
“These are two of the most transformational policies that Congress could pass today to make certain that no matter who you are, or where you live, or your financial stability, or the color of your skin, you don’t have to run an obstacle course to access the ballot box,” she said.
Khalif Ali, director of the voting rights organization New Pennsylvania Project, said that Americans “cannot turn a blind eye” to the threats facing the country’s democratic institutions and practices.
“Codifying voting rights through comprehensive legislation is not just a matter of policy, it is a moral imperative,“ he said.
Deluzio acknowledged the bulk of his agenda is unlikely to gain any traction with Republicans in control of the House.
“I’m laying down a marker for what I know Democrats will support when we are in the majority,” he said.
Steve is a photojournalist and writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he is currently on strike and working as a Union Progress co-editor. Reach him at smellon@unionprogress.com.