This Fourth of July, North Carolina should be expanding freedom, not limiting it

Nothing says “Happy Fourth of July” like spending Independence Day week debating a voter suppression bill. It’s a bold choice to celebrate America’s birthday by advancing legislation that could make it harder for the very people who defended our freedom overseas to exercise it back home. Apparently it’s “give me liberty or give me… additional paperwork.”

Our nation’s story has never been about shrinking democracy. It has been about expanding democracy.

At our founding, the promise of self-government was revolutionary, but incomplete. Voting was largely reserved for white men with property. Generation after generation, Americans fought to bring our democracy closer to the ideals proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence.

The 15th Amendment expanded voting rights regardless of race. The 19th Amendment recognized women’s right to vote. The 24th Amendment abolished the poll tax. The 26th Amendment lowered the voting age to 18, recognizing that if you’re old enough to fight for your country, you’re old enough to vote. And the Voting Rights Act of 1965 confronted generations of discrimination that had denied millions of Americans their constitutional rights.

The arc of American history has been one of expanding the circle of democracy. Yet somehow, in the 21st century, we have found ourselves moving in the opposite direction.

Instead of asking how to make voting more accessible, more secure, and more reflective of the people, legislatures across the country increasingly ask how they can make voting just a little bit harder. A new ID requirement here. Another administrative hurdle there. Shorter deadlines. More opportunities to challenge voters. More bureaucracy. More confusion.

North Carolina’s House Bill 958 continues that trend.

The bill contains some provisions that election officials have long supported, including allowing counties to begin processing ballots earlier on Election Day and extending deadlines for voters to correct certain ballot issues. Those are practical improvements.

But those sensible provisions are buried alongside changes that move us backward, including new restrictions affecting military and overseas voters, additional voter challenge mechanisms, and expanded opportunities for administrative barriers that risk making voting more difficult rather than more accessible.

It feels like we have forgotten something fundamental.

Voting is not a privilege granted by politicians. It is how the people grant legitimacy to politicians.

Every generation of Americans has been handed a choice. Expand democracy or restrict it. Trust the people or fear them. Our ancestors repeatedly chose expansion.

The Founders declared that governments derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed.” The generation that passed the Reconstruction Amendments expanded who counted among “the governed.” The Civil Rights Movement challenged America to finally live up to those promises.

Why are we now spending so much energy trying to reverse that progress?

Every election law should begin with one simple question: Does this help eligible citizens participate in our democracy while protecting election integrity?

Too often today, the question isn’t how to strengthen our democracy; it’s how to make voting harder and how to change the rules to tilt the playing field before voters ever cast a ballot.

And let’s be honest about the timing. Celebrating Independence Day by debating restrictions on voting is a little like celebrating Earth Day by clear-cutting a forest. Or throwing yourself a birthday party and refusing to let half your friends through the front door.

America’s greatness has never come from perfection. It has come from our willingness to keep expanding the promise of freedom to more people, not fewer.

That is what made the founding extraordinary. That is what made the Civil Rights Movement transformative. That is the tradition we should honor this Fourth of July.

Freedom isn’t something we celebrate once a year with fireworks. It’s something we protect every time we ensure that every eligible citizen can make their voice heard. The American experiment has always moved forward when we’ve trusted more people with democracy, not fewer.

This Independence Day, North Carolina should remember that expanding freedom isn’t a radical idea. It’s the most American tradition we have.

Melissa Price Kromm is executive director of N.C. For The People.