Senator Warnock reintroduced the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. What’s most amazing about this is that it wasn’t that long ago that voting rights bills were approved almost unanimously. WTH happened to us?
https://www.11alive.com/article/news/politics/sen-raphael-warnock-reintroduces-john-lewis-voting-rights-advancement-act/85-52089c4f-9226-47c6-8d7b-74518ba01d90
Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia unveiled the measure, titled the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, with the backing of Democratic leaders. The bill stands little chance of passage in the Republican-led Congress, but it provides the clearest articulation of Democrats' agenda on voting rights and election reform.
The legislation would reestablish and expand the requirement that states and localities with a history of discrimination get federal approval before changing their voting laws. It would also require states to allow same-day voter registration, prevent voters from being purged from voter rolls if they miss elections and allow people who may have been disenfranchised at the ballot box to seek a legal remedy in the courts.
“Democracy is the very house in which we live. It is the framework in which we get to fight for the things that we care about,” Warnock said. “These last seven months have reminded us that we ought not take any of it for granted. We are literally in a fight for the life of the republic.”
Warnock was joined by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, as well as Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Alex Padilla of California. The senators were flanked by dozens of activists, including voting rights advocates, environmental campaigners, faith leaders and union organizers.
The reintroduction comes at a precarious moment for the Voting Rights Act. The enforcement mechanisms of the law have been removed or hampered by two decades of court rulings and lapsed congressional reauthorizations. And an unusual push by Republicans in several states to redistrict congressional maps five years ahead of schedule has also raised questions about the effectiveness of the law in protecting voters