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Voting and Elections

Throughout his career in Congress, Rep. Larson has continually fought for free and fair elections for the American people.   

Protecting our Democracy 

 Rep. Larson believes we must take action to protect our democracy in the face of attacks from mob rule, undemocratic state governments, foreign nations, and other bad actors. This Congress, Rep. Larson and House Democrats passed critical legislation to safeguard the right to vote and protect against government overreach: 

  • For the People Act: As legislatures across the country work to make voting more difficult, this legislation would ensure that all Americans have easy and secure access to the ballot and do not have their vote undermined by partisan gerrymandering. 

  • John Lewis Voting Rights Act: Written as a response to the Supreme Court’s undermining of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, this bill would restore protections to protect Americans from discriminatory voting laws that seek to disenfranchise them.  

  • Protecting Our Democracy Act: This package of ethics reforms would strengthen our Democratic institutions and ensure that the Office of the President and other elected officials and public servants act in the best interests of the people they serve.  

  • Electoral Count Act: As one part of our efforts to ensure the actions of January 6 can never happen again, this legislation overhauls the process to count Electoral College votes to ensure the Will of the People cannot be subverted by those who want to alter the outcome.  

Getting Big Money Out of Politics 

Rep. Larson was an early proponent of publicly financed congressional campaigns to put the power of our elections in the hands of the people instead of wealthy individuals and big corporations. He introduced legislation modeled after Connecticut’s successful small dollar matching program that was integrated into the For the People Act. His work has been recognized by good government groups such as Common Cause and Demos. 

In the 2013, Rep. Larson was appointed by the Speaker of the House to serve as Chairman of the Task Force on Election Reform, leading the Democratic Caucus' efforts to shed light on the impact of the Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. FEC. This U.S. Supreme Court decision on Citizens United opened a Pandora's Box of unintended consequences by allowing nearly unlimited money to flow into our elections.  

Since then, Rep. Larson has cosponsored constitutional amendments that would reverse this disastrous ruling. Such amendments would once again empower Congress to enact strong campaign finance laws such as limiting large contributions and governing campaign spending.