US President Joe Biden issued a new executive order, directing federal agencies to take a series of steps to promote voting access, a move that comes as congressional Democrats press for a sweeping voting and elections bill to counter efforts to restrict voting access, AP reported.
During a recorded address on the 56th commemoration of “Bloody Sunday,” the 1965 incident in which some 600 civil rights activists were viciously beaten by state troopers as they tried to march for voting rights in Selma, Alabama, Biden said in his remarks to Sunday’s Martin and Coretta King Unity Breakfast before signing the order: “Every eligible voter should be able to vote and have it counted,” “If you have the best ideas, you have nothing to hide. Let the people vote.”
The order directs federal agencies to expand access to voter registration and election information, calls on the heads of agencies to come up with plans to give federal employees time off to vote or volunteer as nonpartisan poll workers, and pushes an overhaul of the government’s Vote.gov website.
It also includes provisions to restrict partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts, strike down hurdles to voting and bring transparency to a murky campaign finance system that allows wealthy donors to anonymously bankroll political causes.
Follow the latest news on Google News
