Michelle Obama announces push to register 1 million new voters ahead of midterms

Former first lady Michelle Obama has launched a push to get 1 million people newly registered to vote ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. 

In a statement on Sunday, Obama said her foundation, When We All Vote, along with 30 other organizations, will recruit and train at least 100,000 volunteers to register voters. 

Among the other groups involved in the effort are The League of Women Voters, the National Bar Association, the NAACP, Rock the Vote, Common Cause and the Voto Latino Foundation.

The groups also aim to activate 100,000 people to contact senators about passing voting rights legislation, and recruit “thousands” of lawyers to protect voting rights “in the states where the freedom to vote is threatened.”

In 2020, millions made their voices heard at the polls. But now, folks who oppose that progress are making it harder to vote. That’s why I’m asking you to join @WhenWeAllVote and 30 other organizations to turn out more voters and urge Congress to pass voting rights legislation. pic.twitter.com/hwgyyuTGy9

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) January 9, 2022

Obama called out GOP-led states including Georgia, Texas, and Florida that have passed restrictive election bills making it harder for citizens to vote.

“This type of voter suppression is not new,” she said in a statement. “Generations of Americans have persevered through poll taxes, literacy tests, and laws designed to strip away their power—and they’ve done it by organizing, by protesting, and most importantly, by overcoming the barriers in front of them in order to vote. And now, we’ve got to do the same.”

“We’ve got to vote like the future of our democracy depends on it,” she added. “And we must give Congress no choice but to act decisively to protect the right to vote and make the ballot box more accessible for everyone.”