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Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Michelle Obama Group Push Bill to Ease Voter ID Requirements

Celebrities including Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Chrissy Teigen are calling on Americans to encourage their senators to pass the “For the People Act” –  a Democratic bill that would expand vote by mail and ease requirements for voter photo identification, Breitbart reports.

In an open letter published Tuesday from When We All Vote, an organization that Michelle Obama co-chairs, asks “Americans of conscience and goodwill to join us in taking a stand for voting rights and to put the power more firmly in the hands of the people.”

The letter, written by Obama, and signed by more than 60 celebrities including athletes and civil rights activists also describes the Capitol Hill riots of January 6, a “historic day of shame.”

The bill which has already passed the House of Representatives, has been condemned by Republicans as a potential disaster for the country, the 791-page bill would also restore voting rights to convicted felons and facilitate ballot harvesting, according to Breitbart.

 

“We urge every American to remember how it felt to watch as our Capitol was desecrated earlier this year—and to channel that outrage into patriotic duty,” says the letter, which is co-signed by former Obama senior advisor Valerie Jarrett.

Among the celebrities who added their names to the letter are Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, Chrissy Teigen, John Legend, Jennifer Lopez, Amy Schumer, Chelsea Handler, Faith Hill, Eva Longoria, and Whoopi Goldberg.

House Resolution 1, or the “For The People Act”, co-sponsored by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, would reduce the powers of states to oversee their elections, giving the federal government more power to determine voting laws at a local level.

As Breitbart News reported, the bill would vastly expand vote by mail without requiring voter identification. The bill calls voter photo ID and other measures “restrictions on the right to vote,” while suggesting these are forms of “racial discrimination” and “systemic racism.”

“The bill would also protect illegal aliens from prosecution if they are registered to vote automatically and never made an affirmative declaration that they were U.S. citizens. Agencies that register voters would not be required to keep records of people who declined to affirm their citizenship.”

Republicans have called the bill an attempt at a power grab by Democrats, saying that it would damage the country’s electoral system and lead to  the federal government seizing power from states to govern their own elections.

“The ‘Illegal Voting Act’ is not about strengthening democracy; it’s about strengthening Democrats,’’ Sen. Mike Lee (R- Utah) wrote in an opinion piece published by USA TODAY last week.

“This is something that will federalize our elections. It’s a D.C. takeover of our elections,” Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) told Breitbart News last week.

Michelle Obama’s When We All Vote organization, recruited celebrity influencers to promote vote by mail during the 2020 presidential election.

 

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About Catherine Smith

Catherine Smith is a newcomer to Washington D.C. She met and married an American journalist and moved to D.C. from the U.K. She graduated with a B.A. in Graphics, Media, and Communications and worked in design and retail in the U.K.

Photo: (Photo by Handout/DNCC via Getty Images)