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It took years for immigrant Yolanda Hernandez to become eligible to cast an election ballot in the United States, but since she obtained citizenship in her adopted country, she has made sure her vote counted. Being able to vote is so important for her that, in mid-June, she took time off from her hotel housekeeping job to help defend the rights of all voters.

As the national debate over voting rights intensifies, Hernandez boarded one of four buses that left Phoenix on June 18 for Washington, D.C., stopping to hold rallies along the way. The Freedom Ride, scheduled to arrive in the nation鈥檚 capital June 26, is modeled after a 1960s tactic used by civil rights movement volunteers, who rode buses over state lines to challenge racial segregation in the South. Sixty years after the original bus rides, modern-day passengers from Arizona, California, Georgia, and other states will lobby members of Congress to support federal legislation that would ensure protection of voting rights.

鈥淭ogether, we have to make our voices heard,鈥� says Hernandez, 59. 鈥淗ere in Arizona, for example, they want to remove our right to vote early, and we don鈥檛 want that to happen.鈥�

The bus tour emerged from grassroots organizing to enfranchise voters in minority communities, work that deepened after a 2010 Arizona immigration law that made it a crime for those without legal status to be in the state. The massive mobilization to protect against Senate Bill 1070 gradually helped loosen a Republican grip on the state and spurred organizations and activists to unify in a common quest for political change.

Voting-rights groups, immigrant-rights organizations and labor unions are among the collectives fighting state lawmakers鈥� plans to toughen the voting process鈥攚hich opponents say will further disenfranchise minority communities. Arizona is one of , according to a Brennan Center analysis that documented more than 350 restrictive bills introduced in 48 states. Although supporters often cast such efforts as necessary to protect election integrity, opponents say they are merely a groundless assault on the will of voters in November鈥檚 election.

鈥淚t just goes to show that Republicans are very unhappy with how democracy actually works,鈥� says Progress Arizona鈥檚 Vianey de Anda. 鈥淚t鈥檚 clear that they鈥檙e specifically trying to target and suppress certain communities.鈥�

In Arizona, a contentious new law known as SB 1485  that was passed and signed into law May 11 may remove tens of thousands of voters from the state鈥檚 active early voting rolls. Voting-rights activists say the law is meant to disempower Latino, Black, and Native American voters who in the 2020 presidential election were pivotal in transforming the state鈥檚 political spectrum. 鈥淭his really is a civil rights fight of our lifetime,鈥� says Maria Hernandez, a spokeswoman for Unite Here, a labor union that represents hospitality workers in Arizona and southern California.

Even though voters chose to give Arizona鈥檚 state legislature a slight Republican majority, in 2020 they and voted for . A historic voter turnout helped push those Democrats over the top: A total of 3.4 million Arizonans voted in November, compared with 2.7 million in the presidential election of 2016.

Despite official reviews that found , as former President Trump and his supporters have long maintained after his narrow loss, state Republicans ordered an audit of the 2.1 million votes cast in Maricopa County, home to more than . The weekslong audit, which has no statutory authority, is expected to leave the election outcome unchanged when it ends, possibly in late June. It already has inspired visitors from other states, including .

Maria Hernandez, de Anda, and other organizers view a sweeping federal election reform bill being debated in Congress as a solution to counter states鈥� actions. 鈥淭he only thing that the restrictions are doing is creating barriers in front of voters who are trying to vote. They鈥檙e making it as complicated as possible so that folks are turned away and they don鈥檛 vote,鈥� de Anda says.

Provisions of the federal For the People Act include requiring states to offer mail-in ballots and automatic voter registration, as well as end partisan congressional gerrymandering. The legislation but , where . Still, organizers and activists hold out hope that their presence in Washington might persuade members of Congress to approve the bill.

鈥淲e have a broad coalition of people from all over the country, people from different faiths and beliefs, different organizations, different ethnic groups,鈥� says Wanda Mosley, national field director for Black Voters Matter. 鈥淚 believe that members of Congress perhaps haven鈥檛 seen a group like this coming to D.C. in quite some time.鈥�

Should the legislation meet its demise in the Senate, organizers and activists won鈥檛 let lawmakers off the hook. 鈥淚f it takes reforming or eliminating the filibuster to do that, then we want elected officials to do what is necessary,鈥� Hernandez says.

Before the bus tour, organizers and activists conducted extensive outreach in communities of color (much of it through social media, given the coronavirus pandemic) who they say will be most affected by voting restrictions. In Arizona, the organizing is a continuation of grassroots activists鈥� decadelong focus on engaging voters in the electoral process, informing communities about the potential negative impact of proposed legislation, and encouraging people to contact their legislators and congressional representatives.

Progress Arizona, where de Anda works, is one of several groups that during this year鈥檚 legislative session fought to defeat , although SB 1485 and another restrictive bill, SB 1003, were signed into law by Gov. Doug Ducey. SB 1003 aims to reduce the time allowed for fixing mismatched or missing signatures on mailed ballots. In November, .

鈥淲e are trying to make sure that our communities are aware, that they learn of the importance of their roles鈥� in bringing about political change that will benefit their communities, de Anda says.

Yolanda Hernandez, a Mexico native who has lived in Arizona since the mid-1980s, subscribes to a similar way of thinking. She belongs to Unite Here Local 11 in the Phoenix area, where she champions the interests of fellow hotel employees as a union steward. Preserving people鈥檚 voting rights is another cause worth defending, she says.

鈥淚 became a citizen so that I could vote,鈥� she says. 鈥淚f we want change, we have to get involved.鈥�

In a sense, the grassroots organizing and collective partnerships that SB 1070 fostered in 2010 may have left activists better positioned to quickly move against new voting restrictions when they are proposed today. The all-out mobilization to register new voters in ethnic communities before elections has made it easier to reach out to members of those diverse populations and spread the word about possible voting restrictions via calls, texts, social media, and virtual town halls.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 mainly the group of voters that we鈥檙e contacting to let them know what鈥檚 going on,鈥� says Karina Diaz, executive director of the Arizona Dream Act Coalition. The Phoenix nonprofit advocates for immigrants鈥攆requently called 鈥淒reamers鈥濃�攚ho have lived in the U.S. without legal status since childhood.

Before the last election, organizers also left flyers on scores of people鈥檚 doors with information about polling places and reminders of the deadline to mail in their ballots. That type of organizing, Diaz says, has made a significant difference in election participation for members of lower-income, long-disenfranchised communities whose members often must hold two or more jobs to make ends meet, leaving little free time for anything else.

The situation for some Black voters in Georgia, where Mosley lives, is similar. 鈥淲e find that people have to work extras shifts, they have to work multiple jobs so that they are able to keep up and pay bills,鈥� she says. 鈥淎nd so oftentimes young folks don鈥檛 have the luxury of being able to sit down at the dinner table or on the couch after work to research the location of their polling precincts, because we see them change so often.鈥�

And those living in Arizona鈥檚 remote Native American communities may be unable to vote because they can鈥檛 access election materials online, or because traveling to distant polls could prove difficult, organizers point out.

Maria Hernandez (who is not related to Yolanda Hernandez) says that her labor union and other partners in Arizona knocked on 1 million doors in the months before the 2020 election. They also went to Georgia to help activists there make progressive political gains, but working to protect voting rights is now at the forefront. 鈥淲e believe that it’s not just enough to have a good union contract,鈥� she says.

Adds Diaz: 鈥淲e are facilitating the voting process.鈥� That鈥檚 something proponents of voting restrictions don鈥檛 like because it could diminish their own political power, she says. In Arizona, the midterm election of 2022 will come with high stakes: the seats of Republican Gov. Ducey and incumbent U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, a Democrat, will be up for grabs. Activists and organizers also have their eyes on turning the state legislature blue. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a lot,鈥� Diaz says. 鈥淭hey [Republicans] know they can lose power if it鈥檚 easier for people to vote.鈥�

Arizonans are keeping up the pressure on Kelly and Democratic U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema to support the For the People Act. Yolanda Hernandez will be doing her part in both Arizona and in Washington to rally around the common goal of securing voting rights for all.