The Rev. Al Sharpton says America's "voting emergency" is a threat to democracy like Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"You cannot fight, and you should, for the right for the people of Ukraine to have a democratic state and make decisions based on voting and then not deal with that same right to be upheld here in America," Sharpton said Friday during an appearance on "MTP Daily" with host Chuck Todd.
"So, as we look for and pray for the people in Ukraine, we need to also deal domestically. I think that connection [is] very clear, and we need to make it clear."
Senate Democrats in January refused to carve out the filibuster to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act.
President Joe Biden pushed for passage of both bills and scrapped his view of the 60-vote filibuster to hurry the process along because the "threat to democracy is so grave."
His State of the Union address featured little talk on the topic.
"We're going to see low amounts of voting everywhere if we do not challenge and turn around a lot of these restrictive laws that have been put in place since 2020, in 19 states or more," Sharpton told MSNBC. "We are dealing with a voting emergency in this country, as we deal with Ukraine, and we need to deal with it, and that's why this weekend in Selma is extremely important because we need to underscore that we cannot be global liberators and at home ignore the threat to democracy right here."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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