Number
111420 Version
ORIGINAL
Reference
Sponsor
ALDS. DAVIS, COGGS AND HAMILTON
Title
Resolution affirming the Common Council’s opposition to restrictive voting laws and calls on state election officials to educate the public about the effect of the new restrictive voting laws.
Analysis
This resolution affirms the Common Council's opposition to restrictive voting laws and calls on state election officials to educate the public about the effect of the new restrictive voting laws.
Body
Whereas, The right to vote is fundamental, and protects and preserves all other civil and political freedoms; and
Whereas, President Lyndon Johnson and the U.S. Congress ensured the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, considered to be the most effective federal civil rights statute, and which prohibits voting practices or procedures that discriminate on the basis of race, color or membership in a language minority group; and
Whereas, President Bill Clinton and the U. S. Congress ensured the passage of the National Voter Registration Act in 1993, which enhances voting opportunities for Americans by making it easier for citizens to register to vote and to maintain registration; and
Whereas, The Supreme Court of the United States, writing through Chief Justice Earl Warren, has said, “Undoubtedly, the right of suffrage is a fundamental matter in a free and democratic society. Especially since the right to exercise the franchise in a free and unimpaired manner is preservative of other basic civil and political rights”; and
Whereas, In 2011, Governor Scott Walker and the Wisconsin legislature reversed the trend of expansion of the franchise throughout the latter half of the last century by launching an unconscionable attack on the democratic values that set the nation apart, and which will restrict the right to vote for all Americans, and in particular minority, young, elderly, low-income, and disabled citizens; and
Whereas, The restrictive voting laws enacted i...
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