Matt Lesser

State Senator Matt Lesser Releases Statement Following Voting Rights Bill Voted Out of GAE Committee

Today, state Senator Matt Lesser (D-Middletown) is releasing a statement following a committee vote in the Government Administration and Elections Committee Meeting on Senate Bill 820, An Act Concerning A State Voting Rights Act, which he drafted along with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

“I’m grateful to Senator Flexer, Rep. Fox and the members of the GAE Committee for voting to advance SB 820, which will create a Connecticut Voting Rights Act. The right to vote is perhaps the most fundamental right in our country. As states like Georgia and Texas move to restrict the right to vote, Connecticut has a historic opportunity in 2021 to enshrine the right to vote in law – ensuring that all voters are protected now and forever. People fought and died for the right to vote – from Selma in 1965 to those who repelled the attack on our Capitol on January 6. For many years, the machinery of the state has been used to disenfranchise communities of color, and other protected classes. The federal Voting Rights Act has been whittled down by the Courts – and by inconsistent enforcement. That’s why states need to step up to protect the right to vote in our state and others.”

Last week Virginia became the latest state to adopt a state voting rights act. Similar legislation has already been enacted in California, Washington, and Oregon and is pending in New York.