Congressman John Lewis’ final essay urges, “Voting and participating in the democratic process are key. The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society. You must use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it.”

While 2020 marked the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, voter registration for millions of voters of color continue to be met with suppression including: misinformation and delayed mailing of absentee ballots, purging of naturalized citizens and others from voting rolls, widespread voter intimidation, and repressive voter ID laws. In Florida, the largest of the swing states, 65% of voters approved Amendment 4 in 2018 to restore voting rights to people convicted of felonies, who had completed their sentences. But in 2020, Florida courts instituted a "poll tax", requiring over 1 million returning citizens to pay extensive f [...]