Joe Biden marks Selma anniversary with order to expand voting access

US President Joe Biden issued an executive order on Sunday designed to make it easier for Americans to vote, the White House said, as Republicans across the country seek to limit voting rights in the wake of the 2020 election.

Biden’s order comes on the 56th anniversary of the 1965 “Bloody Sunday” when state troopers and police attacked civil rights marchers in Selma, Alabama, who were protesting racial discrimination at the voting booth.

“The legacy of the march in Selma is that while nothing can stop a free people from exercising their most sacred power as a citizen, there are those who will do everything they can to take that power away,” Biden said in pre-taped remarks to the Martin & Coretta Scott King Unity Breakfast released on Sunday.

Last week Democrats in the House of Representatives passed sweeping legislation to update voting procedures and require states to turn over the task of redrawing congressional districts to independent commissions. That bill faces tough chances of passing the Senate.

Biden urged the Senate to pass the bill.

His executive order directs federal agencies to submit plans within 200 days that outline steps to expand voter registration and distribute election information to voters. It also directs the US chief information officer to modernise federal websites and digital services that provide such details.