The right to vote is a precious thing. More than simply permission to cast your ballot, it’s the right to make your voice heard and decide the direction of our country. To deny that right to someone is to silence their voice and deny their dignity as a person and as an American.
This shared conviction has motivated thousands of brave Americans throughout our history to risk and even sacrifice their lives in the struggle for voting rights and African-American suffrage. In places like Selma and Danville, they set an example for us to follow today — to fight back, against both historic injustices and new obstacles to the right to vote.
The truth is the right to vote still faces far too many threats here at home. We’re reminded of it when our fellow Americans are turned away at the polls because of discriminatory voter ID laws. It hit home when our own state’s racially gerrymandered House of Delegates map was struck down earlier this year, like so many others around the country.