Denisse Guerrero: Congress is trying to limit which citizens can vote

By Denisse Guerrero

When my friend Martha became a U.S. citizen, the people doing her paperwork removed one of her last names. If you visit historical sites at Ellis Island, you will read the stories of countless others like her – immigrants whose names were changed to be easier for Americans to pronounce, or were shortened or misspelled on their papers.

Last week, our House representatives, including Washington Reps. Michael Baumgartner, Dan Newhouse and Marie Glusenkamp Perez, passed a voter suppression bill called the SAVE Act. The bill cements Donald Trump’s recent anti-voter executive order into law, and would require us to go in-person with a passport or birth certificate to register to vote or update our addresses. In addition to disenfranchising the millions who do not have easy access to these documents, the bill would affect people who have changed their names. This silences a third of all women voters, many members of our trans and gender-diverse communities, and immigrants like Martha. Even for those who have the right documents, eliminating online and mail registration systems would make voting much, much more difficult.

If you look at the history of voting rights in the U.S., you will see a system that has thrown up every barrier in the way of women and nonwhite voters. When Black people got the right to vote, white lawmakers didn’t immediately say, “OK, here’s your voter card!” They made them go through hell to get registered, disenfranchising them through poll taxes, literacy tests and intimidation.

Given this history, we should all see the recent anti-voter attacks for what they are – the latest attempt to block us from the ballot. Why are the president and Congress endangering our state’s accessible elections when we have had zero cases of noncitizen voting in our history, and zero cases of voter fraud of any kind in the last 15 years? Trump’s attempts to point the finger at voter fraud have been proven unfounded, yet still he uses peoples’ fears of immigrants to justify his clear attacks on our freedom to vote.

When it comes to civil rights in the U.S., our struggle has always been with election accessibility, not election security. Washington has long recognized that, which is why we have made our state a place where every voter can meaningfully participate, no matter your race, age, or ability to jump through hoops to get registered.

So what do we do?

In addition to ensuring that federal threats like the SAVE Act are defeated, Washington needs to continue to lead by example.

With a near supermajority of pro-democracy progressives, our state legislature has a mandate to enshrine our absolute rights that we value here in Washington, whether they be voting rights, reproductive rights, or the right to be free from discrimination. We should prepare to keep our people safe from whatever federal interferences in free elections could look like.

One bill Washington lawmakers passed this year will expand automatic voter registration beyond the DMV, allowing other offices that verify citizenship to register people to vote. This could include voters who are being naturalized as citizens, returning home from prison, and applying for health care.

This is a great victory, but lawmakers left many other protections on the table this year. Next year, we could show that Washington honors voters here by establishing Election Day as a holiday. We could expand language access in voting materials for people with limited English proficiency.

We could also restore the preclearance clause to strengthen our Washington Voting Rights Act, protecting voters of color from discrimination before it happens. Before the WVRA lawsuit in Yakima, the drawing of districts diluted the power of the Latino vote, and there were no Latino members on the City Council.

After the dispute, Latino candidates like Dulce Gutiérrez started winning elections.

When we fight for access instead of restricting voices, we can create a world where the people elected actually reflect the community. A truly equitable and responsive government requires listening to the people, and taking the steps necessary to improve our lives even if it means being in direct opposition to your colleagues or party.

We the people can see that the SAVE Act is a clear attempt to decrease access to voting. As the bill moves forward to the U.S. Senate, I am hopeful that Washington’s senators will choose to stand by the people that elected them.

Denisse Guerrero, of Spokane, is the director of membership and advocacy with the Washington Community Alliance, a member of the Washington Voting Justice Coalition.