Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) is pushing for voting rights protections as well as an end to the filibuster in the hopes of ending what she has deemed to be “Republican lies” regarding voter fraud.
On Wednesday, the Japanese American Hawaii senator took to the Senate floor to say Democrats are shifting their attention from President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better bill to protecting minorities’ right to vote.
Hirono accused former President Donald Trump and his supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 of continuing their “Republican lies” by claiming voter fraud.
“Before President Trump, Republicans at least tried to pretend that their laws weren’t blatantly discriminatory,” she said.
She said that voting restrictions such as refusing to aid voters who don’t speak English and removal of vote-by-mail ballots prevent many minorities from voting.
On Thursday, Hirono appeared on “CNN Newsroom” to alert the public about the increase in voter suppression bills being passed by Republicans in state legislatures across the nation, reported RealClearPolitics.
“What I’m seeing are voter suppression bills being enacted by state legislatures across the country, so that is a direct threat to our democracy,” she told anchor Erica Hill. “We need to take action to support voter protection laws.”
Hirono went on to claim that in order to support the Trump-backed narrative that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, Republicans “need to support the passage of all of these voter suppression bills that will really stop minority people, the Black people, Chicanos, Asian-American people from voting. That’s where they’re going because this is their effort to retain power.”
Featured Image via Senator Mazie Hirono
