A new analysis says that a whopping 3.8 million more Americans would be casting their ballots in November if Congress had approved the Democrat-sponsored Freedom to Vote Act.
The liberal Center for American Progress found that nearly 8 million eligible Americans would have likely registered to vote as a result of the bill’s plan for automatic voter registration, including 1.2 million Black Americans, 640,000 Hispanic Americans and 66,000 Asian Americans.
Greta Bedekovics, author of the report and associate director of Democracy Policy at CAP, said the bill is “needed now more than ever.”
“That’s especially true at a time when Americans are increasingly losing faith in government and institutions,” Ms. Bedekovics said.
The FTVA, introduced by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota Democrat, has not made it out of the Senate.
It includes three parts: voter access and election administration; election integrity and civic participation, and empowerment. It would ensure all voters have access to automatic, same-day and online voter registration. It would make Election Day a public holiday, ensuring Americans have the time to vote.
It requires states with voter ID provisions to make them uniform, and allow multiple forms of ID.
The bill would outlaw gerrymandering and combat so-called “dark money” contributions in elections.
The analysis found that the legislation could have spurred as many as 1.1 million additional young voters and as many as 1.1 million more Hispanic Americans to cast their ballots with the same-day voter provision. Some 600,000 Black voters would’ve benefitted from automatic voter registration.
Approximately 3.3 million Americans barred from voting due to felony convictions would have regained their right to vote through the legislation. Some 4.9 million voters would likely have cast a ballot by mail rather than in-person. As many as 1.7 million more voters would likely have voted early in person.
Nearly 950 additional mail-in drop boxes would be placed across the country, and 1.7 million more voters would likely have submitted their mail ballots at those locations.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.