News & Commentary

The special session – which ran longer than regular sessions – is finally ending. The session was convened for two purposes:

Americans have exercised their right to vote, the votes were counted, and it appears that Joe Biden has won the presidential election.

The goal of any democratic election is to represent the will of the people, and to achieve that goal, we must count every single vote. Every Virginia voter’s voice deserves to be heard. Let’s prepare for an extended election process to make sure that happens. 

This speech was originally delivered by the ACLU of Virginia Executive Director Claire Gastañaga at a vigil for the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Richmond on Sept. 20, 2020.

2020 marks a critical moment in America’s history: We find ourselves at the junction of two deadly pandemics – COVID-19 and systemic racism. The senseless deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Marcus-David Peters, and countless others, have thrown into stark relief the systemic inequities in this country. One thing is clear: Going back to “normal” is not an option. We need change, and we will use everything in our toolbox to get it.

The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed our lives and shown the enormous impact of systemic racism and inequities in America. Caught in between two pandemics, Black and Brown Virginians continue to bear the brunt of not only COVID-19, but also unjust, unfair systems that devalue their lives and leave them behind.

On July 1, hundreds of new laws passed by the Virginia General Assembly earlier this year went into effect. The Virginia legislature made great strides and greenlit a handful of important reforms that had been rejected time and time again in the past. Rather than attacking people’s rights and freedoms, lawmakers passed legislation that made it easier for people to vote, expanded abortion access, protected LGBTQ+ people from discrimination and started chipping away at the countless injustices in our criminal legal system.

For decades, Virginia has been one of the most difficult places in the country for voters to cast their ballots. Thankfully, the latest session of the Virginia legislature passed a historic slate of election reforms to create a more equitable, modern voting system.

No longer should we wait until women are gripped by the claws of the criminal legal system, but take action before their backs are pressed against trying walls.