Joint statement from nation’s leading civil rights organizations. An excerpt:

“…The provisions in the bill are intended to address any ambiguity in the ECA. We look forward to Congress carefully reviewing and strengthening the current proposal to ensure that final legislation eliminates all paths to undermining the votes and voices of our increasingly diverse electorate.

“While discussion of critical measures to prevent another frontal challenge to the electoral count process is valuable, we must again highlight that reforming the ECA is not enough to protect our democracy in this fragile moment. At the beginning of the Senate’s bipartisan efforts to reform the ECA, many of the undersigned organizations sent a letter to the Senate urging it to directly confront increasing racial discrimination in voting.

“We know all too well that the January 6 attack on our democracy—just like the increasing attacks on the right to vote—was rooted in white supremacy and represented a backlash to increased political participation by communities of color. These threats continue in full force and must be addressed immediately by this Congress if we hope to secure and safeguard an inclusive multiracial democracy in which everyone can participate. Although companion legislation released alongside the ECA reform proposal speaks to some aspects of election administration, it does nothing to address voting discrimination, and therefore fails to address a key root cause of the insurrection. We hope that, as the Senate considers necessary ECA reform, it can also devote time and resources to addressing urgent threats to voting rights for people of color across the United States.”