Congressman Payne is a lifelong champion of expanding and protecting the right to vote.He has consistently supported legislation that expands voting rights and has pushed back on Republican voter suppression tactics like voter ID laws, voting roll purges, restrictions on vote-by-mail, and all other attempts to make it harder for people to vote. He is also a champion of protecting all Americans’ civil rights and eliminating police brutality and making it easier to hold bad cops accountable for their actions.

 

• Supported the For the People Act which would make it easier to register to vote, including requiring nationwide automatic voter registration and restoring voting rights to felons. The legislation also expands vote by mail, prohibits voter roll purges, expands federal support for voting system security, expands donor disclosure requirements, and ends partisan gerrymandering.
   

• Helped pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act, which reauthorizes and expands the Voting Rights Act to ensure cities and states with a history of discrimination against minorities cannot change voting practices without the approval of the Department of Justice.
   

• Supported and helped pass the Equality Act which expands the full protection of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to include actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity and makes it illegal to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people in employment, housing, credit, jury service, and all places of public accommodation.