Letter to the Hon. Merrick B. Garland, U.S. Attorney General - Congresswoman Watson Coleman Leads Letter Calling on Attorney General to Investigate Recent Voter Suppression Efforts

Letter

Dear Attorney General Garland:

The incessant and coordinated attempts to nullify the votes of millions of Black citizens in future
elections through the introduction of voter suppression legislation in more than 40 states
represents a dangerous conspiracy that threatens the very existence of our democracy and
demands your immediate attention. These initiatives are near universally coupled with persistent
lies about voter fraud despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
We request that you determine if there have been violations of both criminal and civil laws
entrusted to your department to enforce. These laws, prohibiting intimidation and interference
with the right to vote, were fought for by voting rights and civil rights activists, from
Reconstruction through the Civil Rights Movement, who often paid with their own blood if not
their lives. These are the laws that are now under attack. Unfortunately, the recent antidemocratic messages couched in lies of voter fraud or phantom illegal votes are reminiscent of a
time in our nation's history when our Justice system ignored similarly coordinated attacks,
rooted in racism, on the participation of certain Americans. From the tragic abuses of the Jim
Crow era after violent attacks on Black voters in the South in the 1870s, to political
assassinations and the deaths of four little girls in an Alabama Church, at the height of the Civil
Rights Movement in the 1960s, the current efforts present a very real and dangerous threat to our
democracy.

Today, however, the United States Congress counts among its members an unprecedented 26
African- American women who are committed to forging a bright future for America informed
by the mistakes of its past. We are committed to using our political power to ensure that history
does not repeat itself. The activism of Black women resulted in an unprecedented voter turnout
in the 2020 election, and as a result, legislators in more than 40 states have introduced voter
suppression legislation designed to diminish voter registration timelines, limit the availability of
vote by mail and accessibility of early vote opportunities.

This legislative agenda, which President Biden has correctly called "Jim Crow in the
21st Century," is supported by a chorus of messengers in the media who are committed to
spreading misinformation and lies to give the impression that these voter restrictions are
justified. As legislators we are committed to holding hearings, posing questions and initiating
reports to expose this conspiratorial plot aimed at undermining our democracy and influencing
the direction of public policy. As the nation's chief law enforcement officer, we ask you to
similarly commit to investigating when actions to intimidate Black voters occur and if purported legislation has crossed into criminal activity under our laws, with the aim of preserving our
democracy and preventing a return to the intimidation tactics of past generations.
President Lyndon Baines Johnson said, "The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised
by man for breaking down injustice." As legislators we understand that there is no greater threat
to our participation as citizens, than our right to vote. African Americans have a long tradition of
fighting against barriers to the Black vote that includes the elimination of the poll tax and literacy
tests. However, this latest organized effort to disenfranchise voters is not just a threat to Black
electoral participation, it is a threat to democracy and as such should be of great concern to the
Department of Justice.

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