Voting rights have long been an issue Tim Kaine is passionate about. As senator, Kaine has cosponsored bills to restore portions of the Voting Rights Act and he has continually championed policies such as early voting periods that make it easier for everyone to vote. Now he's routinely hitting the issue on the campaign trail.

“When I see people here trying to shove people aside so they can’t participate, they’re doing it for a reason," Kaine said last week in Wisconsin. "They’re doing it because your vote does matter. They’re doing it because if you vote, they’ll lose."

Burgess Everett writes:

In Baltimore earlier this month, he celebrated courts “striking down in a number of states arbitrary restrictions that are trying to hold people back from voting” with the National Urban League. In Milwaukee, Kaine praised the ongoing court battle over strict voter-ID laws that were installed “because if you vote [Republicans will] lose.” And in Greensboro, N.C., he predicted that because of a recent court decision, “100,000 people who were supposed to be able to participate, who were shunted aside, will now get to come back in and participate.” “We got to show everybody we know our vote matters and vote for Hillary Clinton. OK?” Kaine said there.

This issue is particularly relevant as some of these restrictive laws, such as North Carolina’s sweeping measure, get overturned by the courts. Unfortunately, an appeals court in Wisconsin just recently restored Wisconsin GOP lawmakers' voter suppression law. But keeping the efforts to suppress the votes of Black and Latino citizens specifically top of mind is vitally important heading into November.