It was 60 years ago the most significant piece of civil rights legislation in United States history was signed into law. On July 2, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin in employment and outlawing segregation in business establishments, public schools and other public places. It was the efforts of unknown Black activists like Bayard Rustin and Dr. Dorothy Height that brought the critical legislation to the president’s desk. The day it was signed, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders stood behind the president to represent the tireless efforts of millions of everyday folks.

After six decades, I ask the question: iis our nation still on a path to protecting the rights of all, as outlined in that legislation? I say it is not. Instead, we are witnessing an onslaught of attacks on our country’s promise of equal opportunity and fundamental rights for all.

The Civil Rights Act set the foundation for the Voting Rights Act of 1965. However, in 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the “heart” of the Voting Rights Act, freeing states, and localities, to enact voting laws without federal oversight.

Stay up to speed: Sign up for daily opinion in your inbox Monday-Friday

After the 2020 presidential election, legislators introduced more than 400 bills in nearly every state, aimed at restricting access to the franchise, primarily in communities of color. The onslaught has not abated. Last year, lawmakers introduced at least 356 anti-voter bills across the country.

In this upcoming election, we must, with our vote, recommit to the cornerstone of our democracy and the fundamental right upon which all our civil liberties rest. Our voice, through the ballot, sends a clear mandate to our lawmakers we will continue the fight to ensure not even one voter is stripped from accessing their right to vote.

Today, our democracy hangs in the balance because of initiatives like Project 2025, a roadmap to take away our freedoms by chipping away at the checks and balances in our Constitution. That roadmap, along with the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling that expands presidential immunity from criminal prosecution while in office, threaten to dismantle democracy as we know it.

Even in a state like Colorado, that has a well-deserved reputation for having some of the strongest voting laws in place, our democracy is at risk.

This summer, the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project and the ACLU of Colorado joined a lawsuit challenging Colorado Springs’ practice of holding municipal elections in April of odd-numbered years. This unusual election timing has had a clear disparate effect on minority voters. While turnout drops generally in off-year, non-November elections, the drop is especially stark for Hispanic and Black voters. Our lawsuit alleges this practice not only costs the city of Colorado Springs more, but it also reduces voter participation, and disproportionately impacts minority voters.

Last year, the ACLU of Colorado, in partnership with the NAACP, Colorado Latinos Vote, the Latina Equity Foundation and League of Women Voters, persuaded El Paso County to limit racial gerrymandering in selecting the lines for county commission districts. After being contacted by the ACLU of Colorado, county commissioners adopted a map that will keep southeast Colorado Springs precincts intact, which has many voters of color. Black and Hispanic voters will be allowed to choose their preferred candidate in future elections now that their votes are no longer split by county maps.

As we near the presidential election this fall, let us reflect on the words of President Johnson who said partly, “the vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by human beings for breaking down injustice…”

Today, I call on all Coloradans to vote in November. Dr. Martin Luther King once called voting “the foundation stone for political action.” By voting, we ensure our foundation for democracy remains strong.

Deborah Richardson became the executive director of the ACLU of Colorado in January 2021, after 30 years of experience guiding nonprofit organizations in advancing transformational social change. She is the first African American to lead the 72-year-old affiliate.