Biden Marks ‘Bloody Sunday’ With Order to Expand Voting Access

By Mary Anne Webber First Posted: Mar 07, 2021 11:49 PM EST

President Joe Biden has signed an executive order on Sunday directing government agencies to expand voting access to make it easier for Americans to vote.

This is part of his administration's efforts to promote and defend the right to vote for all eligible Americans who are legally entitled to participate in the voting process.

The order noted that aside from the federal government's responsibility to expand access, it is also their responsibility to educate voters on registration and expand election information to combat misinformation and for all Americans to participate "in our democracy," NBC News reported.

Pres. Biden announced the said order in a virtual speech played before Martin and Coretta King Unity Breakfast. This marks the 56th anniversary of 1965 "Bloody Sunday" crossing on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, where Black demonstrators fought for access to the ballot box but were beaten by police along their march.

Biden Expanding the Voting Access

Pres. Biden issued the order after the House of Representatives passed an election and ethics reform package and as Republicans try to enact more restrictive voting measures with election 2020 in their mind, according to a Reuters report.

House Democrats approved the legislation on Wednesday to update voting procedures and mandate states to turn over redrawing congressional districts to independent commissions. However, the measure faces slim chances of passing the Senate.

The bill comes as Republican lawmakers in several states have moved to limit voting access after former president Donald Trump's loss in last year's election.

A Brennan Center for Justice report showed that more than 250 bills with provisions restricting voting access had been introduced in 43 states.

In his order, Pres. Biden ordered federal agencies to submit plans within 200 days that outline ways to expand voter registration and deliver election information to voters.

The order also directed the U.S. chief information officer to modernize federal websites and digital services that provide the said details.

A senior administration official said the country is in the middle of newly aggressive attacks on voting rights that is taking place now in state legislatures around the country.

The official added that it is their duty to make sure that registering to vote and the act of voting be made simple and easy for all eligible voters.

Biden echoed the statement, saying every eligible voter should be able to vote and have it counted.

"Let the people vote," Biden said in an Associated Press report.

Bloody Sunday in Selma

Civil rights leaders marched from Selma to Montgomery's state capital, wherein former Alabama Gov. George Wallace ordered state troopers to use whatever measures necessary to prevent the march.

According to a History article on the event, around 600 voting rights advocates set out from the Brown Chapel AME Church on Mar. 7.

Federal court order eventually permitted the protest, which allowed voting rights marchers to leave Selma on Mar. 21 under federalized National Guard troops' protection.

The demonstrators then reached Montgomery, with the crowd reaching 25,000 by the time they got the Capitol steps, prompting Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act, which President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law on Aug. 6, 1965.