Political Quotes

On the recordJuly 25, 2012
Few things are as sacred as the right to vote. Generations have fought, bled, and died so that you and I can have a voice in our democracy. This is why we must guard against measures that take this away, like the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which prohibited all Chinese immigrants from becoming naturalized citizens so that they would not be able to vote. It lasted 60 years, until 1943, preventing people who'd lived in this country for decades from exercising their voices. Laws like this, poll taxes, or literacy tests, should be a thing of the past in America. Every U.S. citizen, no matter what their background, should have access to the polls. But today, State governments across the country are enacting laws making it much harder for as many as 5 million Americans to vote, requiring, for instance, photo IDs for grandmothers who voted for years but no longer drive. When barely half of Americans vote, we should not be erecting more barriers to democracy. We should be removing obstacles. We must protect the right to vote. ____________________
Said by
Judy Chu
Democratic · California

Share & report

More from Judy Chu

Dec 4, 2014

It seems the Republicans will do anything other than put a bill on the floor to pass immigration reform. So far, they have refused to allow for a vote on the bipartisan H.R. 15; they are threatening another government shutdown; and they…

govinfo.gov
Mar 19, 2021

Eight lives were lost in Georgia this week when a gunman targeted three Asian-owned businesses. Six of these victims were Asian-American women. I am heartbroken for all these lost souls, and I am heartbroken because this is just one of the…

govinfo.gov
Jul 29, 2022

We are the only country in the world where mass shootings continually happen. They happen in schools, grocery stores, malls, hospitals, parades, you name it. In America, there has not been a single week in 2022 without a mass shooting…

govinfo.gov
Mar 17, 2021

Discrimination against women is a part of America's history, but it should not be our future. That is why we need the equal rights amendment. It was not an accident that women were left out of the Constitution. The Founders very much…

govinfo.gov

Other voices in this conversation