Today, Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL, 7th District) and her fellow Democrats introduced a Bill to Restore a Critical part of the Voting Rights Act that Conservatives on the Supreme Court had Gutted in the infamous 2013 Ruling Shelby County v. Holder. The Bill creates a New Formula to Determine which States and Localities must "Preclear" any Proposed Changes to Election Laws and Procedures with the Justice Department, a System that had been in place from the Voting Rights Act's Passage in 1965 until Shelby County.
The Previous Preclearance Regime applied to States and Localities, largely in the South, with a History of Racial Discrimination in their Voting Laws. Under Sewell's Bill, any State that sees at least 15 Voting Rights Violations over a 25-year Period would be Required to obtain Preclearance for 10 years. If the State itself, rather than Localities within the State, is responsible for the Violations, it would only take 10 Violations to Place it under Preclearance. And any Particular Locality could Individually be Subjected to Preclearance if it has at least Three Violations.
Consequently, this Bill would put 11 States back under Preclearance: Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia. That List contains mostly Southern States, but it also includes Two very big and currently Democratic-leaning States outside the South, California and New York.
In Shelby, the Roberts Court didn't deem the Concept of Pre-Clearance Unconstitutional but instead struck down the Formula used to determine where it Applied, effectively Removing Preclearance in all of the Covered Jurisdictions. To help ensure the New Preclearance Regime survives Judicial Review by an increasingly Hostile Supreme Court, Democrats are in the midst of compiling a Lengthy Record of Evidence in Hearings and proceedings around the Country this year. And of course, while the Trump Administration almost certainly wouldn't use Preclearance to Stop Discriminatory Voting Laws, a future Democratic President could.
Meanwhile, Senate Democrats have unveiled their own Bill to grant Statehood to Washington, D.C., following the Lead of the House, where Democrats may Vote as soon as next week to Pass the "For the People Act," which includes Sweeping Voting Rights Expansions, Bans Congressional Gerrymandering, establishes a Public Financing system, and Endorses the Principle of D.C. Statehood.
As of Thursday, a separate Bill to formally Granting Statehood had 198 of the necessary 218 Cosponsors needed for a Majority in the House. In the Senate, 30 of the Democratic Caucus' 47 Members have Cosponsored the D.C. Statehood Proposal, so it still has a long way to go just to get every Democrat on Board.
Congressional Democrats also recently Amended the For the People Act to include a Clause that Incentivizes States to Acquire voting Systems and Technology that is Capable of Running Elections using Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV). While the Provision wouldn't require States to use RCV, it would make it easier for States or Localities to Choose to Adopt it.
Of course, Senate Republicans will almost certainly use their Majority to Stop All of these Bills from becoming Law. However, by introducing and Debating them now, Democrats can set the Stage for a potential Democratic-run Senate to Pass them if the Party can also Win Back the White House and Retain the House in 2020.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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