WASHINGTON – DNC Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Donna Brazile, DNC Vice Chair of Voter Registration and Participation, issued the following joint statement today following the Supreme Court’s 8-0 decision in the case of Evenwel v. Abbott that would have potentially forced states to leave children under 18, permanent legal residents, DREAMers, and those who cannot vote without representation in the drawing of state legislative districts:

“Today’s unanimous ruling against the same conservative group that previously sought to attack affirmative action and the Voting Rights Act in the Supreme Court is a critical victory for our democracy. The callous attempt to require the exclusion of nonvoters from the state legislative district-drawing process would have rendered millions of people invisible and ignored. Everyone in America must be counted. That’s why the DNC took the extraordinary step of filing an amicus brief in the Supreme Court in this case to advocate for the principle of ‘one person one vote.’ By upholding that principle, the Supreme Court has dealt a significant blow to the powerful forces that threaten voting rights.

“Still, even with this victory, too many threats to our most fundamental right, the right to vote, still persist across the country. From the burdensome reduction of early voting and adoption of voter ID laws like the one passed in Wisconsin that could exclude 300,000 voters, to eliminating same-day registration, to dramatically reducing the number of polling locations like what we’ve witnessed recently in Arizona, conservatives are doing everything they can to exclude certain groups from participating in our democracy. Democrats believe our country is stronger when every voice is heard and every vote is counted, and we will keep fighting to make sure the sacred right to vote is protected. We should be making it easier for people to vote, not harder.”