A group of college students from Arizona has threatened to endure a second hunger strike if Democratic voting reforms are not passed by Congress before Jan. 17.
“We’re prepared to hold out indefinitely now that the holidays are over,” Leila Winbury, a junior at Arizona State University, said.
“I have seen the consequences of a broken democracy my entire life, so we’re willing to suffer the consequences of hunger striking rather than the consequences of the bill not passing.”
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Whether or not Winbury and her group can hold out “indefinitely,” the college student promised that this second hunger strike would be “a lot bigger” than the 15-day strike the group endured in December, according to a report.
“Nationwide hunger-striking, more than likely,” she said.
That strike, which saw the group travel to Washington, D.C., ended when President Joe Biden pledged to prioritize the Freedom to Vote Act’s passage.
Winbury’s group is called Un-PAC, and it is marketed as the anti-PAC to end all PACs.
With this hunger strike, Un-PAC students hope to push forward the Freedom to Vote Act, according to the report.
The Democratic-led legislation would make voting rules more lenient and establish Election Day as a federal holiday.
“The bill, if it were enacted, would implement same day and automatic voter registration in all 50 states, as well as mandated polling locations on every college campus,” Un-PAC co-founder Shana Gallagher said. “And election day would be a federal holiday.”
The legislation does not appear to have the support to pass by the students’ Jan. 17 deadline, and it has been stalled repeatedly on Capitol Hill, the report noted.
The group will likely face the hardships of hunger, which Winbury, a political science major, described as taxing on one’s health.
“The health toll was hard, a lot of us had low blood pressure, but we did have a doctor on site,” she said. “He took our vitals twice a day.”
“In Arizona, I was able to go back to my dorm. In D.C., we stayed in sleeping bags out front of the Capitol, and then once it would get dark, we would go stay in a hotel,” Winbury said.
The sacrifice is worth it if her group’s message reaches lawmakers, the college student said.
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“Do your jobs, listen to your constituents. We should not have to put our bodies on the line for you to listen to us.”
