DSA Policy- A Mass Campaign for Voting Rights

Resolution adopted at the DSA Convention. 2021
 
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED, that as a critical part of DSA’s anti-racist struggle, as a moral imperative as socialists, and as crux of our political organizing, we should embark on a mass campaign for voting rights;
 
Resolution
 
#4: Mass Campaign for Voting Rights
Authors: Ashley P. (East Bay), Sue M. (New Orleans), Kristian H. (North Texas), Sam L. (New York City)
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WHEREAS the integrity of the vote is an essential aspect of mass political participation and a necessary precondition to form a mass workers’ party in the US,
 
WHEREAS a democratic state poses a major threat to the political domination of capital;
WHEREAS democratic states have been a historic demand and hard-fought victory of working class movements across the globe;

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​WHEREAS democratic rights are being challenged by the rise of anti-democratic right wing parties internationally;
 
WHEREAS in the United States voter suppression tactics have a disproportionate impact on the most marginalized communities, especially the African-American community, historically demonstrated in the contraction of the labor movement, and gutting of public education and public services in the South at the end of Reconstruction with the elimination of Black voters and some working-class white voters under the emergence of Jim Crow;
 
WHEREAS the gains made by the Civil Rights Movement have been eroding for decades culminating in Shelby County v. Holder decision to strike down Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act;
 
WHEREAS the Republican Party has fully committed to anti-democratic politics with the introduction of more than 300 bills and counting, in 47 states, which target Black and brown communities in particular, as well as working class communities broadly, for voter suppression;
 
WHEREAS, DSA’s electoral successes are built, particularly at the national level, with Black and brown candidates running in districts that are majority People of Color , and we recognize that DSA wins where and if working class people of color participate;
 
WHEREAS, Electoral campaigns with racial justice at the forefront to support policies like defunding the police and abolishing ICE have the potential to transform US politics and cohere a working class electoral base needed for this transformation;
 
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED, that as a critical part of DSA’s anti-racist struggle, as a moral imperative as socialists, and as crux of our political organizing, we should embark on a mass campaign for voting rights;
 
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that DSA will create a national campaign committee to advance voting rights and access across all 50 states, districts, and US territories including but not limited to:
·       Restoring and expanding Section 5 of the 1965 Civil Rights Act
·       Requiring International Observers in US Elections
·       Establishing independent voting district commissions in each state
·       Ensuring voting rights for the formerly and currently incarcerated
·       Establishing Election Day as a National Holiday
·       Automatic voter registration
·       Eliminating Voter ID Laws
·       Early Voting including the two weekend before the elections
·       Continuing to offer robust mail-in voting options through USPS after the end of the pandemic
·       Demand a process to naturalize undocumented immigrants immediately and to offer citizenship to all undocumented immigrants who seek it;
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BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that DSA will provide resources to its chapters to create campaigns including video, social media, paper literature, political education events, and election day support;
 
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, DSA chapters will provide material support to voters on election day to ensure no one is deterred from exhaustion or disability by serving as election observers, escort marginalized groups to the polls and report intimidation tactics such as racist vigilantes in coordination with relevant working groups and coalition partners.
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