(Washington) On Sunday, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order to facilitate Americans’ vote on the 56th anniversaryH The memory of “Bloody Sunday,” when police violently suppressed a march in defense of the right to vote for African Americans in Selma, Alabama.
The move comes as many local parliaments as majorities seek to restrict access to the vote in response to Donald Trump’s presidential defeat on November 3. The billionaire asserts, without evidence, that the vote was rigged.
In particular, law proposals aim to limit the eligible population to vote by mail or facilitate the cancellation of a greater number of ballot papers deemed non-compliant.
«Aujourd’hui, jour anniversaire du Bloody Sunday, je signe un décret pour rendre plus facile pour les électeurs de s’inscrire pour voter, et améliorer l’accès au vote», a dit M. Biden dans des propos préenregistrés, transmis par White House.
“Every voter must be able to vote and have his vote taken into account,” the head of state said. “If you have the best ideas, you have nothing to hide. Let people vote.”
The House of Representatives, in which Democrats are the majority, on Wednesday passed a bill aimed at addressing obstacles to voting in the country. The script, which Joe Biden supports, should now go to the Senate (50 Democrats versus 50 Republicans) where its future is very uncertain.
In particular, the Presidential Decree calls for improving or updating federal websites that provide information on elections and voting. In particular, he wants to make it easier for people with disabilities or incarceration to vote.
But it does not include concrete and immediate measures and may have only limited impact on attempts to restrict access to the vote.
“The president does not have the executive authority to prevent a country from making these kinds of decisions,” a Biden administration official said at a news briefing on Saturday.
On March 7, 1965, hundreds of peaceful demonstrators were violently suppressed by the police in Salma. A few months later, in August, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act, which abolished exams and taxes for becoming a voter.
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Activist and former Democratic actor John Lewis was beaten during the March 7, 1965 march in Salma.
Mr. Biden said that what remains of the “peaceful march is that although there is nothing that can prevent free people from exercising their most sacred power as citizens, some do their best to wrest that power from them.”
According to the president, “elected officials in 43 states have already submitted more than 250 bills to make Americans’ vote more difficult.” “We cannot allow them to succeed.”
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