The Democratic Party will introduce Voting Rights Advancement Act (HR4) this week, a major push to Repair America’s Broken Electoral System and Counter a Wave of Voter Suppression that has swept the Country, depriving Hundreds of Thousands of Citizens of the Right to Vote.
House Member Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL, 7th District, Selma) is Sponsoring HR4 that will be introduced to the House of Representatives on Today. She said it was time to Restore and Advance American Democracy: “We don’t want just to shatter the glass ceiling, we want to break down the door.” She added: “We should be making it easier for people to vote. We should be strong enough as a nation that everybody can have a voice.”
HR4 is being treated as a Priority by the Democratic Leadership that has Regained Control of the House. The Party sees Restoring and Modernizing the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the Signature Reform of the Civil Rights era, as a crucial First Step towards Defending Black and other Minority Voters from widespread Republican attempts to Block Access to the Ballot Box. “People should be outraged that ordinary Americans who just want to exercise the right to vote are finding it harder, as state legislatures put up modern-day barriers,” said Sewell from her Congressional Office in Washington.
The Legislation is intended to fill the gaping hole that was punched into the Voting Rights Act in 2013 when the U.S. Supreme Court effectively gutted the Protections afforded by Lyndon Johnson’s most celebrated Reform. In a Ruling called Shelby County v Holder the Five Conservative Justices on the Court Ended almost Half a Century of Federal Oversight of States and Counties, most in the Deep South, that had a Track Record of Discriminating against Black and other Minority Voters.
In the wake of that Ruling, the Removal of Federal Controls has Unleashed a Rush of Voter Suppression directed Primarily against African American, Poor, Elderly, and Young Voters. A Brennan Center Database shows that 22 States have introduced Restrictive Voting Measures since the Floodgates Opened Six years ago.
The Flurry of Suppression has been so intense, the Center found, that last year’s Midterm Election Cycle saw Voter Suppression that was “more widespread and brazen than in any other since the modern-day assault on voting began”.
Such Flagrant Attacks on Basic Suffrage have Incensed Sewell. She pointed to Georgia, where 53,000 Voters were Purged from the Voting Rolls in the 2018 Elections because their Names didn’t exactly Match their ID Cards. In the Case of Georgia, the Voter Purge was Masterminded by Brian Kemp, then Secretary of State, who also happened to be Running for Governor. Kemp Defeated the Democratic Candidate, Stacey Abrams, by just 54,000 votes, a Margin almost Identical to the Size of the Purge.
House Schedulers are hoping the Bill will Pass before the Sixth Anniversary of the Shelby County Ruling on June 26th. It is then almost certain to Flounder in the Senate given the Fierce Opposition of Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
But Sewell and her Colleagues are Playing a long game in the hope that Democrats, should they Regain Control of the White House and Both Chambers of Congress as they did most recently in 2008, would then be able to drive HR4 into Law. In anticipation of that day, and in expectation that it would then be rigorously Opposed by Republicans through the Courts, she is working with Peers on the Judiciary and House Administration Committees to Create a Record of Voter Suppression in culprit States.
“We have to develop a public record that is strong enough to withstand litigation and challenge,” she said.
Under the Terms of the Bill, 11 States have been Identified as Meriting a Return to Federal Oversight of any Electoral Changes they want to make.
Under the Modernized Formula proposed in the Legislation, any State that has had 15 or more Violations over the past 25 years, whether by Restricting Early Voting Hours, introducing ID-Card Barriers, making it Harder for Voters to Register, carrying out Inaccurate Purges of Voting Lists, or a Slew of other Trickery, would find themselves back under the beady eye of the U.S. Justice Department, with Preclearance, for 10 years.
The 11 States are: Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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