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ACLU Letter Opposing H.R. 1 (For the People Act of 2019)

Document Date: March 6, 2019

The ACLU sent this letter to Members of the House of Representatives urging them to vote no on H.R. 1, the For the People Act of 2019. The ACLU shares H.R. 1’s main goal of strengthening and expanding participation in our democracy. The ACLU strongly supports the provisions of H.R. 1 that would strengthen federal protections for the right to vote. As detailed in this letter, H.R. 1 contains many of our top federal voting rights priorities; the ACLU will continue to work closely with Congress to achieve these reforms. However, there are a number of areas in need of improvement. While some of our concerns have been addressed or mitigated since introduction, the bill, in its current form, would still unconstitutionally burden the speech and associational rights of many public interest organizations and American citizens. These provisions will chill speech essential to our public discourse and would do little to serve the public’s legitimate interest in knowing who is providing substantial support for candidates’ elections.

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