The Latter-day Saint Legacy of Supporting Voting Rights and Moral Agency
Latter-day Saints know that voting rights undergird the most inspired aspects of the US Constitution, including the idea that the source of governmental power is the people, amendments to extend and defend human rights protections, the separation of powers, the vital guarantees found in the Bill of Rights, and the triumph of the rule of law over arbitrary authority.
As President Dallin H. Oaks reminded us in April 2021, the core doctrine of moral agency makes it “wrong for citizens to have no voice in the selection of their rulers or the making of their laws.”
Unfortunately, in recent years politicians have pursued extreme partisan gerrymandering, ignored victorious ballot initiatives, limited access to the ballot box, and attempted election subversion, all of which reduce citizens’ voices, violating our agency and the agency of our neighbors.
While we treasure the federalism of the American system, Latter-day Saint Representatives and Senators have long recognized that the right to vote, being instrumental to the exercise of personal agency, requires federal protections against state-level and local tyranny. Of the eleven Latter-day Saint Senators, Republican and Democrat, who served our nation between 1965 and 2006, all eleven supported either the original 1965 Voting Rights Act or at least one of its reauthorizations. Of the thirty-two Latter-day Saints who served in the House during a reauthorization vote, twenty-six voted in favor at least once, including conservatives Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Rob Bishop (R-UT), and Mike Bishop (R-ID).
We call on the Latter-day Saints currently in the House and, especially, the US Senate, to support voter protection measures that preserve moral agency and defend the checks and balances of our Constitutional order. The best way to accomplish these goals is to pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act without delay. We must make sure that the attacks on our democracy that accelerated after the Shelby v. Holder decision, culminating in the January 6th insurrection and anti-voting laws passed in nineteen states last year are not the beginning of the end. As President Biden pointed out today, free and fair elections allow candidates to triumph based on the merits of their ideas, a core feature of the American way.
The last time the Voting Rights Act was reauthorized, it passed the Senate 98–0, including votes from Senators Orrin Hatch, Robert Bennett, Gordon Smith, the late Harry Reid, and a supportive statement from Senator Crapo. To continue to block debate on voting rights, as Senators Romney, Lee, and Crapo are doing through their support for a Republican filibuster, is not only an abuse of the system but a significant departure from the legacy left by previous generations of Latter-day Saint Senators and Representatives. If Senate Republicans continue their obstruction, Senate Democrats must adjust Senate rules to proceed to debate on voting rights legislation with a simple majority.
