For decades, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) was a critical check against anti-democratic efforts to silence and suppress the voices of millions of voters of color, blocking discriminatory voting laws before they could take effect. Then the Supreme Court's 2013 Shelby County decision gutted Section 5 of the VRA—opening the floodgates to a wave of restrictive voting bills, extreme gerrymandering, voter roll purges and polling location closures targeting voters of color.

Congress must do everything it can urgently to protect our freedom to vote. That includes passing the Freedom to Vote Act (FTVA) and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (VRAA)–transformative legislation that together would restore and modernize the full protections of the VRA, set national standards to increase access to the ballot box, neutralize partisan and racial gerrymandering, protect our elections from interference, increase transparency in campaign finance to prevent dark money from buying our politicians, and more.

The FTVA and John Lewis VRAA would ensure that every eligible American—from Latino voters in California, to American Indian voters in South Dakota, to Black voters in Georgia—has access to the ballot box and protection against anti-democratic attacks in state legislatures across the nation.

Every American deserves equal participation in our political process, and equal access to vote is the cornerstone of a healthy democracy. Members of Congress must fulfill their obligation to protect the freedom to vote by enacting legislation that will fully restore and strengthen the VRA.

Sign the petition to Congress: Restore the Voting Rights Act and our freedom to vote–pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.