Congress has moral obligation to protect voting rights

The bipartisan Voting Rights Act (VRA) was passed in 1965, and reaffirmed multiple times since, to stop state and local governments from making election changes that deny American citizens the equal right to vote based on their race. But two years ago, the Supreme Court gutted a key part of the VRA that helped stop discrimination before it occurred. Tomorrow is the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act—a crowning achievement of the civil rights movement that was gutted by the Supreme Court just two years ago. Restoring the Voting Rights Act to its former glory would require a simple legislative fix. But, to this day, even on this important anniversary, Republican politicians are dead-set on blocking this bill from becoming law.

Today, the right to vote is under coordinated attack around the country.  States and localities are passing laws that restrict the right to vote, making it harder for young people, disabled Americans and people of color to participate in our democracy. New restrictions have been put in place in 22 states—18 of them Republican led—since 2010, making it harder for millions of Americans to exercise their right to vote.

{mosads}President Johnson once said, “So, through this act, and its enforcement, an important instrument of freedom passes into the hands of millions of our citizens. But that instrument must be used. Presidents and Congresses, laws and lawsuits can open the doors to the polling places and open the doors to the wondrous rewards which await the wise use of the ballot. But only the individual Negro, and all others who have been denied the right to vote, can really walk through those doors, and can use that right, and can transform the vote into an instrument of justice and fulfillment.”

The Supreme Court’s decision to strike down a key part of the Voting Rights Act opened the door to some who want to manipulate voting laws for their own gain, allowing them to pick and choose who they want to vote, and discriminating on the basis of race. In Shelby County v. Holder, Chief Justice Roberts acknowledged the persistence of racial discrimination in voting and invited Congress to come up with an updated coverage formula to guard against it. 

The bipartisan Voting Rights Amendment Act, introduced in January 2014, is a compromise bill that would provide ways to protect voters from discrimination before it occurs and would ensure greater transparency around election changes nationwide. The Voting Rights Advancement Act, introduced in June 2015, would restore DOJ preclearance for 14 states that have a history of discrimination over the last 25 years and ensure greater transparency around election changes nationwide.

We do not need to go back to the Jim Crow era; we need to implement new policies, like the ones Hillary Clinton proposed in her speech at Texas Southern University. But Rick Perry and other Republicans have failed to take a stand on her proposals, such as universal, automatic voting registration. I am sure this is because doing so would mean talking about the laws he has supported that have restricted voting rights for millions of Americans over the years.

We have a long history of expanding the franchise in this country.  We have a long history of standing up for political leaders, like Hillary Clinton, who fight to guarantee the right to vote, and opposing those, like Rick Perry and other Republicans, who seek to curtail it.  In 2015, we should be making it easier for citizens to vote, not harder. This includes bringing our voter registration system into the 21st century with modern, online technology and giving Americans the flexibility to vote early in every state in the country.   Fifty years after the signing of the Voting Rights Act I call on all people of good will to stand up and speak out for Voting Rights Now!

Jackson Lee has represented Texas’ 18^th Congressional District since 1995. She sits on the Homeland Security and the Judiciary committees.