Commentary: As state legislatures and local authorities across the country have sought to restrict voting rights and access, the U.S. House of Representatives has voted to pass H.R. 4, The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. The bill, named after the legendary Civil Rights leader and late Congressman John Lewis is co-sponsored by a total of 223 members including, U.S. Representative Melanie Stansbury (NM-01).
The bill aims to protect voters from discrimination by restoring and strengthening critical protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The introduction of H.R. 4 comes amid the most coordinated state-level effort to restrict the right to vote in generations, with 18 states that have enacted at least 30 new restrictive, anti-voter laws just this year.
“Voting rights are sacred and fundamental to our democracy,” said Congresswoman Stansbury. “We must fight to protect the right to vote, especially as dozens of states and local authorities across the country are undermining access to the ballot box. I am deeply proud and humbled to add my name and cast my vote in support of this critical bill honoring the late Representative John Lewis. Now we must get this bill and H.R. 1, the For The People Act, out of the Senate to protect voting rights across the country.”
The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (H.R. 4) restores and modernizes the Voting Rights Act (VRA), updating a formula requiring states and localities with a recent history of voter discrimination to seek approval from the U.S. Department of Justice before making changes to their voting laws. It would also amend Section 2 of the VRA to eliminate a heightened standard for challenging voter discrimination, which the Supreme Court created in its decision in Brnovich v. DNC, thus strengthening legal protections for voting rights.
For decades, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) ensured equal access to the ballot box and prevented states and localities from restricting the right to vote. However, in a series of devastating blows to voting rights, the Supreme Court struck down the formula that the VRA used to determine which jurisdictions are subject to federal oversight based on a history of voter discrimination in its 2013 decision Shelby County v. Holder. The Court further eroded the nation’s bedrock voting rights law on July 1, 2021, in its decision in Brnovich v. DNC. The Court upheld Arizona’s voting laws that target minority voters and make it more difficult for parties to challenge racially discriminatory voting laws under Section 2. H.R. 4 is critical to restoring the protections of the Voting Rights Act and ensuring states and local authorities comply.
The full text of H.R. 4, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act can be found HERE.