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U.S. Rep. Summer Lee (D-12th District) on Tuesday introduced a new bill that would create a statutory right to vote in federal elections, in an effort to curb the growing number of state-level voting laws that restrict voting and access to voting.
The Right to Vote Act would allow Americans to challenge in court “any policy that unduly restricts ballot access,” and make it more difficult for states to implement policies that make it harder to participate in elections.
The bill is being announced on the eighth anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 ruling in Shelby County v. Holder, which removed the requirement for states to have their election changes pre-approved by the federal government, to ensure they don’t hurt minority voting. The court ruled that the formula the Voting Rights Act used to determine which jurisdictions needed pre-clearance was unconstitutional.
Pre-clearance, as the practice was known, was part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and applied only to a handful of states and counties deemed to have exceptionally troubling records when it came to disenfranchising minority voters.
Supreme Court ruling on Voting Rights Act opened way for new restrictions
“Our right to vote is under constant attack, and we deserve to have the challenge when that right is infringed upon,” Lee said in a statement. “Ever since the passage of the Voting Rights Act, we’ve seen states across the country pass racist voting laws to carve us out of our collective democracy. We can start by ensuring any attempt to keep us from participating in our right to vote in federal elections must be challenged in court and ended to preserve the fundamental values our country was founded upon.”
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) introduced a Senate version of the bill in March. It has the support of eight senate colleagues and 25 members of the House, including Reps. Chris Deluzio (D-17th District) and Dwight Evans (D-3rd District).
The legislation would establish the first-ever affirmative federal voting rights guarantee, “ensuring every citizen may exercise their fundamental right to cast a ballot,” Lee’s office said in a statement. It would prohibit state and local governments from restricting voting access in federal elections, to prevent state governments from enacting laws that diminish or substantially impair the ability to vote; and would expedite judicial review to protect citizens’ voting rights.
According to the liberal-leaning Brennan Center for Justice, nearly two-thirds of all U.S. states have passed some type of voting restriction in recent years.
“The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law enthusiastically supports the Right to Vote Act, which will ensure that courts give full and fair consideration to claims that states and other jurisdictions have unnecessarily placed burdens on the right to vote,” Ezra Rosenberg, Co-Director of the Voting Rights Project of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law said in a statement. “Because that right is preservative of all other rights, these protections are needed.”
The Georgia Recorder contributed reporting.
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