Senate Democrats investing $10M in Defend the Vote initiative

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) is planning to donate $10 million toward voter protection efforts in the 2022 midterm elections, CNN reported Tuesday.

Committee officials told CNN that the Democratic effort to push back on Republican-led voter restriction laws will be called “Defend the Vote.” The three-pronged effort will highlight voter suppression efforts led by the GOP, support litigation in crucial states and fund voter protection organizers.

The stated $10 million allotted for this program could increase as the midterm election approaches.

Explaining the new program, Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) said, “Republicans have launched an unprecedented campaign to restrict voting rights, but we are fighting back — and the DSCC will use every tool at our disposal to protect Americans’ right to participate in our democracy.”

Peters added the program “will help ensure Democrats have the legal and battleground infrastructure we need to defend Americans’ voting rights and win races across the country.”

News of this investment comes one day after Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called on her Democratic colleagues to pass federal voting rights legislation to protect the “sanctity of the vote.”

“The clock is ticking on our democracy with respect to the sanctity of the vote, unless we act to combat the actions taken by Republicans across the country to suppress the vote,” Pelosi wrote in a “Dear Colleague” letter to members of the Democratic caucus.

Dozens of GOP-led state legislatures have considered or passed voting bills that restrict access to polls after President Biden won the 2020 election. Former President Trump has attributed his loss to expanded voter access in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in this past election.