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By The African American Mayors Association
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As America marks the 250th anniversary of its founding, we should ask not only how far our democracy has come, but whether we are still living up to its most fundamental promise: that every eligible citizen has an equal voice at the ballot box. At a time when new barriers to voting are once again being proposed in Congress and longstanding protections continue to erode, that question has never been more urgent, particularly for Black Americans.
Freedom does not happen in a vacuum, nor is it inevitable. It must be protected, reinforced, and renewed. A milestone this significant should not only commemorate what has been achieved; it should also force us to confront where our democracy is still falling short, particularly for Black Americans.
Nowhere is that more urgent than in the ongoing fight to secure the right to vote, which is under attack yet again. Ominous clouds hover over our elections, cast by recent statements and actions from the federal government and from those who seek to limit participation under the guise of “security” and “integrity.”
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For African Americans, the story of voting rights has never been a straight line. It is a story of expansion and retrenchment, of constitutional amendments followed by poll taxes, literacy tests, intimidation, and violence. Even after the victories of the Civil Rights Movement, new barriers emerged in subtler forms. Precinct closures, restrictive ID laws, voter roll purges, and disinformation campaigns were designed to confuse, exhaust, and discourage Black voters and other communities of color.
Today, the threats to our democratic process are evolving again. And they continue to disproportionately affect the very communities who have made this country into a more perfect version of itself, day by day, over the past two and a half centuries.
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Just in the past year, the Supreme Court has allowed a targeted, systematic effort to roll back rights and freedoms won in the civil‑rights era, culminating in decisions that have gutted key protections in Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and opened the door for more racial discrimination and extreme partisan gerrymandering in states like Louisiana.
And now, we see an administration and its allies in Congress championing the so‑called Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act—a bill that would upend how Americans register to vote, under the false pretense of stopping non‑existent waves of non‑citizen voting. The SAVE Act would force citizens to present passports, birth certificates, or similar documents just to register or update their registration, effectively banning most online and mail registration, gutting automatic voter registration, and eliminating voter registration drives.
That might sound technical, but the impact is simple: millions of eligible Americans—especially Black, brown, young, low‑income, and elderly voters who are less likely to have those documents on hand—would find it harder, or impossible, to get on the rolls at all.
As mayors representing Black and brown communities, we sit at the frontlines of this challenge—and we are doing what we can with the tools we have. We are investing in modern, secure voting infrastructure. We are expanding early voting opportunities, supporting nonpartisan voter education, and demanding that any public safety presence at polling sites protects voters without intimidating them. We are partnering with grassroots organizations to combat disinformation and to help residents understand their rights.
But local leadership alone is not enough to meet the scale of this threat. The federal government has a critical role to play in setting standards, providing resources, and protecting fundamental rights.
First, Congress must recommit to restoring the core protections of the Voting Rights Act. In the absence of robust federal oversight, too many states have rushed to enact election laws and maps that dilute Black and brown political power and invite discrimination back into our systems.
Second, federal funding for election security must be sustained and expanded, not used as a bargaining chip. Local jurisdictions cannot be expected to defend against sophisticated cyber threats or large-scale disinformation campaigns without adequate support. Investments in election infrastructure are investments in national security, and in public trust.
Finally, Congress should reject legislation like the SAVE Act and instead advance reforms that make registration and voting more accessible. That means everything like automatic voter registration, same‑day registration, robust early voting, and protections against wrongful voter purges. The test of election policy should be simple: does it make it easier for every eligible American to participate, or harder?
As mayors, we are committed to doing our part to protect that right in our cities. But this is a shared responsibility, and it cannot be institutions alone. It belongs to every level of government, every community leader, and every voter.
It will also depend on whether everyday people are willing to do the quiet, practical work of protecting the vote in their own communities. That means not only exercising our right to vote but also doing our part to protect that right for others, whether by serving as poll workers, helping neighbors get accurate information, or supporting local nonpartisan organizations that provide access to the polls. When people see familiar faces helping run polling sites, answering questions, and standing watch, trust grows and bad actors have less room to operate.
The work of protecting our democracy is continually unfinished and must be strengthened and defended every single day. As we look toward the next 250 years, one of the most patriotic things any of us can do is simple: learn our rights, show up for one another, and vote like our future depends on it.
Mayors Shawyn Patterson-Howard (Mt. Vernon, New York), Mayor Vince R. Williams (Union City, Georgia), Mayor Alix Desulme (North Miami, Florida), Mayor Steven Reed (Montgomery, Alabama), Mayor Phillip Jones (Newport News, Virginia), Mayor Van R. Johnson, Jr. (Savannah, Georgia), Mayor Kim A. Thomas (Richmond Heights, Ohio), Mayor Errick Simmons (Greenville, Mississippi).
The African American Mayors Association (AAMA) is the only organization exclusively representing African American Mayors in the United States.
The views expressed in this article are the writers' own.
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