***MEDIA ADVISORY***
MISSOURI VOTING RIGHTS LOBBY DAY MARCH 31
Tim Shepard for United States Senate Endorses Missouri Voter Advocates as they Decry Race and Class Discriminatory Voter Suppression Bills in Missouri. Tim Shepard for Senate Supports Passing the For the People Act, John Lewis Voting Rights Act, and Condemns the Nationally Coordinated Effort Attacking The Right To Vote.
(JEFFERSON CITY, MO) – On Wed. March 31, 2021, at 10:30 am – 12:30 pm CT, Timothy Shepard for United States Senate is joining voter advocates as they hold a Voting Rights Lobby Day at the Missouri State Capitol Steps/South Lawn. The campaign seeks to draw attention to the spate of discriminatory voting bills in Missouri and highlight his intention to support and protect American’s right to vote.
Tim Shepard is joining the event, organized by the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition and its partners. The nonpartisan organizers have not endorsed Timothy Shepard for Senate. He aims to bring attention to his support of the Federal For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. This is his campaign’s response to the Missouri House passage of Missouri H.B. 738. which would enshrine unconstitutional photo ID requirements to vote, delay the counting of absentee ballots, eliminate a secret ballot for certain voters with disabilities, and expand voter purges. The measure passed the Missouri House the same day lawmakers in Georgia enacted a sweeping voter suppression measure, part of a nationwide attack on the right to vote in 43 states.
“I am disappointed to see the slate of bills passing through state legislatures across the country, including here in Missouri, which further perpetuate a GOP-driven class war against the poor. These bills intentionally disenfranchise our most vulnerable citizens from having access to the right to vote.” Says Tim Shepard, Progressive Democratic Candidate for the United States Senate in Missouri. “In the United States, we should lean into optimism, hope, and inclusion for all of our citizens to ensure a vibrant democracy and not these backward-facing Jim Crow era devices meant to enforce an American caste system.”
“In 1820, Missouri entered our union as a slave state with a bill known as the Missouri Compromise. This compromise flew in the face of our national creed embedded in the Declaration of Independence, ‘For we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men [people] are created equal.’ The Missouri Compromise enshrined a caste system in the United States that we’re still unwinding to this day.” Tim Shepard
“Now, just as then, Missouri is at the center of the national debate of how we wish to define the American experiment. Will we continue to compromise human rights so that those few at the top may consolidate power and wealth while exploiting division and hate? Or are we going to live fully into our creed and demand that every one of our citizens’ voices matters and should get equal representation in our democracy, a Missouri UnCompromised!?”
Tim Shepard is proud to endorse the For the People Act, The John Lewis Voting Rights Act, and other critical democracy reforms to expand access to our vulnerable citizens to participate in our democracy and strengthen our union. “Nobody who faces homelessness or the impacts of poverty, or racism, should ever be restricted from having access to the right to vote, and therefore the right to elevate themselves in our society. We must lead the world and continue to insist on the bedrock foundation of our belief in a free society. Then, we may continue to be a beacon in an increasingly autocratic world for those tired and weary to come to our shores as we proudly declare that we in the United States are truly the land of the free.”
WHAT: MISSOURI VOTING RIGHTS LOBBY DAY
WHO: Timothy Shepard is a Progressive Democratic Candidate for U.S. Senate demonstrating his support for the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition; his support of their non-partisan work does not equate to their endorsement of his campaign for Senate. There will be remarks from Nimrod Chapel, Jr., President, Missouri State Conference of the NAACP; Rev. Darryl Gray, Missionary Baptist State Convention of Missouri; Rep. Ashley Bland Manlove, Chair, Missouri Legislative Black Caucus; Rep. Crystal Quade, Minority Floor Leader, Missouri General Assembly; Denise Lieberman, Director & General Counsel of Missouri Voter Protection Coalition; Mo DeVillar, ACLU of Missouri, among other invited guests.
WHEN: Wed. March 31, 2021
11:30 – 12:30 am CT
WHERE: Missouri State Capitol Steps/South Lawn and broadcast live at https://www.instagram.com/tshepard4mo/
Learn more about Tim’s background at https://tshepard.com/about-tim
