In his State of the Union Address last night, President Obama stressed to members of Congress the importance of bipartisanship and “doing right by the American people.” He discussed issues that interest American voters: income inequality and immigration reform, jobs and health care. And he called for support for the foundation of all of these issues: the right to vote.
President Obama said in his address:
“Citizenship means standing up for everyone’s right to vote. Last year, part of the Voting Rights Act was weakened. But conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats are working together to strengthen it; and the bipartisan commission I appointed last year has offered reforms so that no one has to wait more than a half hour to vote. Let’s support these efforts. It should be the power of our vote, not the size of our bank account, that drives our democracy.”
He’s right. We support the pro-voting reforms offered last week by the president’s commission, which include early voting and online voter registration. And we support Congress’ bipartisan effort to restore some of the voter protections under the Voting Rights Act.
What the President did not mention in his call to support everyone’s right to vote, however, was the Affordable Care Act’s role in our democracy, and how it is currently failing would-be voters.
Under the National Voter Registration Act, government agencies that provide certain services are required to offer eligible citizens the opportunity to register to vote. This includes motor vehicles offices, offices serving the disabled, public assistance agencies, and now, health benefit exchanges created under the ACA. Unfortunately, the voter registration opportunities offered through health exchanges do not come close to what the law requires, resulting in millions of Americans losing the opportunity to register to vote.
Even as we make restoring the VRA a priority, we must not ignore the protections of the NVRA. The President’s own commission recommended bolstering enforcement of the NVRA, and it couldn’t have been timelier. Last week, Project Vote and Demos asked President Obama to make his health care program comply with this important voting rights law.
We hope the President does right by the American people by standing up for everyone’s right to vote, and that begins with making sure every eligible American can register.