For the People Act allows low-income voices to be heard

To the Editor:

Around the Atlanta University Center and west end in general, there are many low-income black families. Unfortunately, like most Americans, many of them don’t have the resources to lobby or the opportunity to speak directly to their representatives. Voting is the primary way they are able to advocate for themselves.

Without fixing our broken democracy, millions of black Americans’ voices will be unheard. After working with other Georgia coalitions and organizations to mobilize for the senate runoff, I’ve seen how powerful our voices can be. I’ve also seen the extreme lengths people will go to ensure our voices can’t be heard.

More than 275,000 Georgians are unjustly being denied the right to vote because of their criminal records. Once you have served your time in jail, your debt to society has already been paid. It is clear voter suppression to stop 5.2 million American citizens from participating in their democracy, especially when they will more likely be affected by policy and legislation being passed.

Not only has this country stripped the humanity from many of these people while incarcerated, but they also took away their opportunity to be heard.

Passing the For the People Act will not only open the door for major criminal justice reform, it will also expand voting rights and access to those who have already either paid their fines or served their allotted time.

I appreciate Sens Ossoff’s and Warnock’s support of this bill, but their support is not enough to push it over the voting line. If Sens. Warnock and Ossoff are committed to un-rigging our democracy, they need to get every Senator on board to do it.

Jordan Boykin

Atlanta