Video, Photos, and Rush Transcript: Congressman Dan Goldman Announces Bill To Advance Fight for Voting Rights

‘Early Voting Act’ Would Ensure 14 Days of In-Person Early Voting for Federal Elections
 
Requires Maximizing Polling Place Accessibility
 
Mandates Early Vote Ballots Be Scanned and Processed Before Election Day to Accelerate Race Calling and Reduce Spread of Disinformation
 
Read the Bill Here
 
Congressman Goldman: “The right to vote is the fundamental right from which all other rights flow. Without equal access to the ballot, without fidelity to the concept of one person, one vote, our democracy cannot function properly.”
 
Goldman: “Today, I am taking action in support of these strong beliefs that all of us in this room share because there can be no true progress without legislation, and especially without uniform federal legislation governing our voting rights.”

New York, NY – Congressman Dan Goldman (NY-10) today announced the Early Voting Act as his first bill in Congress, which would require at least a 14-day window of in-person early voting for federal elections across the country. The bill would also require that election officials maximize polling place accessibility and would take steps to address unacceptably long wait-times for voters in line to cast their ballots and for election results by mandating that election officials start processing and scanning ballots at least 14 days prior to Election Day.
 
VIDEO of the event is available here.
 
PHOTOS of the event are available here.
 
A rush transcript of the Congressman’s remarks is available below:
 
Thank you, Reverend Sharpton, for hosting us. It is my great honor to be able to make this announcement from this hallowed hall.  
 
I want to thank also our other partners in this, and especially when you start to see how much this cuts across every community, every group in this country.
 
Voting rights and the dark history of disenfranchisement in this country has long been an area of concern for me. Indeed, voter suppression laws designed to prevent the least advantaged citizens from the ballot box is as old as this republic. It has taken many forms over the years, but it has always been a constant means for those in power to protect their advantage.
 
When I was in law school, 20 years ago, assisting Michelle Alexander on her seminal book, The New Jim Crow, I wrote a Law Review article about how felon disenfranchisement laws were the modern-day literacy tests, designed to prevent people of color, especially Black Americans, from the ballot box.
 
And as we look around the country, it sometimes feels as if we have made no progress at all. Or, that we often will take one step forward but two steps back in the effort to guarantee truly equal access to the ballot box.
 
But at other times we have watched our communities rise up against attempts at suppression and make their voices heard. Like in Georgia, over the past two elections, where the Black community overcame efforts to suppress their vote by storming to the ballot box in droves to make their voices heard and give Democrats control of the Senate.  
 
But the anti-democratic strain of the modern Republican Party has added a new urgency to this fight. Republican governors and state legislatures across the country are working, as we speak, to remove polling places from urban precincts. They’re passing draconian laws to limit how, when, and where you can cast your ballot.
 
They’ve also pushed radically dangerous Constitutional interpretations that would invalidate the checks and balances of the judicial system and allow politicians instead of voters to determine the outcome of an election.  
 
Simply put, they are working in broad daylight to eliminate the people’s voice as the determining factor in our elections.
 
And that is why I am so proud to introduce, as my very first piece of legislation in Congress, the Early Voting Act, which is a crucial step to guarantee the fundamental right of one person, one vote. That right is truly the foundation of our democracy.  
 
The Early Voting Act will make federal elections uniform across the country, no matter if you are rich or poor; White, Brown, or Black; Democrat or Republican; or living in urban neighborhoods or rural farmland.  
 
This bill requires at least 14 days of early voting before Election Day and including weekends. No longer will anyone have to choose between working and voting. It will also require that polling places are made easily accessible to as many people as possible and on weekends when many people are off work and can more easily get to the polls.
 
This bill also requires some polling places to be within walking distance of public transportation and at least one polling place on all college campuses.
 
These provisions are all designed to ensure that voting is as easy as possible, so that all Americans, regardless of race or political leanings, can gain access to the ballot.  
 
But we must also combat some efforts on the extreme right to cast doubt about our election results. The 2020 election was, by all accounts, the safest election in our history to that point. Yet, conspiracy theorists on the right, including our former President, peddled misinformation about how ballots were counted in an attempt to undermine confidence in the results.  
 
These lies about how ballots are counted, or the fictional notion of voter fraud, which does not exist in any way that affects elections, forms the basis for many of the authoritarian power grabs that we are witnessing across the nation.  
 
We cannot let that happen again, and we cannot have a vacuum, awaiting results, that is filled by extremists peddling conspiracy theories.  
 
So the Early Voting Act also requires that early votes are processed and counted before Election Day so that we will get our election results faster and eliminate that opportunity for bad actors to spread disinformation and undermine the faith in our democracy.
 
The right to vote is the fundamental right from which all other rights flow. Without equal access to the ballot, without fidelity to the concept of one person, one vote, our democracy cannot function properly.  
 
And our democracy cannot be taken for granted.
 
As Abraham Lincoln famously said in his Gettysburg Address, our government is one of the people, for the people, and by the people. And if we are to be a government of the people, for the people, and by the people, then we must ensure that the people’s voice is heard.
 
In our Constitutional republic, the vote is your voice, and it must be cherished and protected.
 
Today, I am taking action in support of these strong beliefs that all of us in this room share because there can be no true progress without legislation, and especially without uniform federal legislation governing our voting rights.
 
This bill is a significant step to ensure equal access to the ballot and our only guarantee that Americans’ voices can be heard. Our democracy requires nothing less.
 
And I am so thankful to everyone here today for all that you have done in this fight, and for lending me your wisdom and experience. It is truly a privilege to stand with each of you here today. I look forward to continuing our work together, to fight for equal access to the ballot, and to get this bill passed into law. Thank you.

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