I am writing to express my complete and total exasperation with the inability of the Senate to compromise on a change to its rules that would allow critical voting rights legislation to be passed by a simple majority vote.

Voters across the country are losing their ability to vote through widespread state voter-suppression laws and the dismantling of the 1965 Voting Rights Act by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Passing the voting rights legislation currently in the Senate, and changing the rules to do it, both have large bipartisan support among the American people. It is madness to me that Congress refuses to support the will of the people on this issue. Failure to pass the voting rights laws will lead to the continuing crumbling of our democracy.

It is certain that the drafters of our Constitution, who included in that document so many necessary checks and balances on the exercise of power, would never have accepted circumstances in which a single senator could stand in the way of the overwhelming majority will of the people. Yet that is the dilemma currently faced by the Senate.

I urge every senator to support the majority will of their constituents, the American people, Congress and the president by voting with their Senate Democratic colleagues to pass the voting rights bills on Jan. 17.

Patrick Norton
Freeport

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