Friend —

Dorothy Cooper was born before women or African Americans in our country could exercise the right to vote. She grew up in a Jim Crow-divided South, and saw the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

Dorothy is 96 years old. In 70 years, she’s missed just one election. And she’s never had a problem voting — until this year.

Why? Because in more than 40 states, including Tennessee, where Dorothy lives, Republicans are introducing and passing laws that make voting more difficult for everyone — especially for minorities, young voters, and seniors.
We’re fighting back — and you can help. Please donate whatever you can to support Democrats and help fund the work we’re doing to beat back voter suppression efforts — one state legislature at a time.

I head up our voter protection team, and we have folks digging in on these suppression efforts every day. We’re spreading the word when new laws are introduced so we can be in a better position to fight them — and for those areas where laws have already been passed, we’re arming people with the information they need to make sure they can still vote on Election Day.

And we can win these fights:

Earlier this fall, thousands of folks in Ohio fought a GOP-led initiative to severely restrict early voting. They collected hundreds of thousands of signatures to enact a “citizens’ veto” and prevent the law from going into effect. As a result, more than 500,000 people were able to cast a ballot in the elections there this past November, and Ohio voters will be able to vote early in the 2012 election.
That’s not a victory for Democrats: It’s a victory for our democracy. Help support Democrats and our team’s work to beat back voter suppression.

GOP leaders have actually said themselves: They do better when fewer people show up to vote.

That’s why these efforts are no coincidence. They’re making voting more difficult, on purpose, and if enough people don’t step up, they’ll keep getting away with it.

Republicans’ suppression efforts go beyond the standard Democrat-versus-Republican back and forth. They are an affront to our democracy — plain and simple.

It is absolutely ridiculous that in Texas you can now vote with a gun license but not a student ID. Or that many of these GOP mandates exclude government-issued veterans ID cards, making it more difficult for our vets to vote.

Or that someone like Dorothy Cooper can show up at her local DMV with her birth certificate, voter registration card, and numerous other residency and identity documents and still be denied the state ID card that Republicans have said she needs in order to vote in her state.

But that is what is happening right now.

If that infuriates you, as it does so many other Americans who are learning more about these laws every day, there’s something you can do right now.
Help us keep up the fight by donating to support Democrats and the work we’re doing to push back on laws that keep people out, and double down on efforts to bring more people in:
http://my.democrats.org/Fight-Voter-Suppression

Thanks,

Will

Will Crossley
Counsel and Voter Protection Director
Democratic National Committee