Biden: The right to have your vote counted is the foundation of democracy and freedom

President Joe Biden visited Alabama on Sunday. The main purpose of the trip is to speak in support of expanding voting rights protections.

The trip is timed to coincide with the 58th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, when state law enforcement used violence against participants in a peaceful march by civil rights activists.

“Selma is a reckoning. The right to vote and the right to have your voice counted is the foundation of democracy and freedom,” Biden said. – Anything is possible with it. Without it, without that right, nothing is possible. And that fundamental right remains in jeopardy.”

Biden’s trip to Selma is intended to show support for African-American voters, who remain a key part of his electoral base ahead of the 2024 election.

The trip comes amid Biden’s attempts to advance a voting rights bill that has met resistance in Congress.

The president was speaking at the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where in 1965 the military used batons and tear gas against voting rights marchers, one of whom was activist John Lewis, who later became a congressman. The footage of the incident shocked the nation at the time.

Biden is seeking legislation that would help register new voters and strengthen the Justice Department’s oversight of local election officials. Republicans who control the House of Representatives do not support these proposals.

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