In the past few weeks Beto O’Rourke has released a slew of ambitious policy proposals on everything from climate change and immigration to gun control and reproductive rights. But I think no proposal captures the heart of his campaign more than the policy statement he issued this week on voting rights. Beto is committed to the idea of participatory democracy – a democracy that draws its impetus from the people who constantly push their government to do what is right. As a Congressman he held town halls with his constituents every single month. And in Iowa this weekend, he emphasized that the push for marriage equality came from citizens and activists:
The credit should not be given principally to those Supreme Court Justices who made those decisions but to every single person who for decades has been marching and struggling and fighting for their full civil rights in this country…Power flows up from the people.
Republicans have gerrymandered the country and disenfranchised voters to diminish the voice of the people and install a government of the minority. This is where Beto’s proposal comes in:
Beto firmly believes that who casts a ballot is every bit as important as who is on the ballot, which is why today, he is unveiling a three-part plan to increase voter registration by 50 million voters and raise voter turnout to a historic 65%. Together, these reforms will seek to have 35 million new voters cast ballots in 2024, which would represent the largest single increase in the number of voters in a presidential election year.
The three pillars of the proposal are:
(1) Increase voter participation through automatic and same-day voter registration
(2) Remove the barriers to voting by passing a strengthened Voting Rights Act, ending voter roll purges, and making election day a national holiday
(3) Restore faith in our democracy by setting up independent commissions to draw congressional districts, and by auditing elections as well as introducing paper ballots nationwide, prohibiting PACs, and preventing electing officials from becoming lobbyists immediately after leaving office.
Beto did this in Texas in 2018 where he revived a moribund Democratic Party and increased the number of young voters by 500%. We can do this nationally. His proposal is a bold step in this direction. Here he is in Georgia addressing the subject.