Michelle Obama Vows to Register 1M Votes to Fight ‘Voter Suppression’
Obama said her foundation would recruit and train at least 100,000 opertaives
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Former first lady Michelle Obama launched a new effort to get 1 million new voters registered ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.
When We All Vote, along with 30 other organizations, Obama said her foundation would recruit and train at least 100,000 volunteers to register voters.
Other groups involved in the effort to grab new voters include:
- The League of Women Voters
- The National Bar Association
- The NAACiP, Rock the Vote
- Common Cause and the Voto Latino Foundation
The groups are aiming to activate 100,000 operatives to contact senators about passing voting rights legislation and aims to protect voting rights “in the states where the freedom to vote is threatened” by recruiting “thousands” of lawyers.
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Obama said this in a statement:
“This type of voter suppression is not new.”
“Generations of Americans have persevered through poll taxes, literacy tests, and laws designed to strip away their power—and they’ve done it by organizing, by protesting, and most importantly, by overcoming the barriers in front of them in order to vote.”
“And now, we’ve got to do the same.”
“We’ve got to vote like the future of our democracy depends on it,” she added.
“And we must give Congress no choice but to act decisively to protect the right to vote and make the ballot box more accessible for everyone.”
In 2020, millions made their voices heard at the polls. But now, folks who oppose that progress are making it harder to vote. That’s why I’m asking you to join @WhenWeAllVote and 30 other organizations to turn out more voters and urge Congress to pass voting rights legislation. pic.twitter.com/hwgyyuTGy9
— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) January 9, 2022
Last year, Neon Nettle reported that Michelle Obama pushed for a Democratic bill that would ease voter ID requirements dubbed “For the People Act.”
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Celebrities backing the effort included Chrissy Teigen, Tom Hanks, and Leonardo DiCaprio.
“We spent all 2021 really fighting for federal voting rights legislation. Over 20,000 people took (advocacy) action with us (last year), and we knew going throughout this year, and seeing that Congress was not acting, and that the filibuster was getting in the way, we realized that we really had to take matters into our own hands,” Stephanie Young, executive director of When We All Vote, told CNN.
“We know at the end of the day, we’re not going to be able to out-organize when it comes to fixing our voting system and modernizing it, and replacing the federal legislation, and that’s why it’s twofold,” Young said.
In 2020, President Donald Trump blasted the vote by mail push for being open to fraud.
"Mail ballots — they cheat. Okay? People cheat," Trump said at the time.
"Mail ballots are a very dangerous thing for this country ’cause there’re cheaters. They go and collect them.
"They’re fraudulent in many cases."
Joe Biden announced plans to give a speech on voting rights in Georgia.
As Neon Nettle reported he will focus on the state’s newly passed election integrity laws.
Biden is expected to call for reform of the Senate filibuster rules by using the issue of voting rights.
