Voting Rights
In the 117th Congress, Democrats passed H.R. 1, the For The People Act, which would promote government transparency, strengthen access to the ballot box, secure election infrastructure, and curb the influence of dark money in politics. The House also passed H.R. 4, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021, which would reauthorize key portions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that were struck down in the Supreme Court’s flawed Shelby County v. Holder and Brnovich v. DNC decisions. In addition, the House passed H.R. 5746, the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, which would set basic nationwide standards for how elections are conducted and take action to end partisan gerrymandering. Senate Republicans shamefully continue to obstruct these vital pieces of civil rights legislation and attack our democracy.
Democrats will continue to protect our democracy, advance the cause of voting rights, and expand access to the ballot box. We will fight to ensure that misleading information does not deter Americans from participating in our democracy and having confidence in the results of our free and fair elections.
The struggle for voting access in America has been long and storied. It is not a right assured to every citizen.
Thank you very much. Some years ago, when the Republicans were in charge of Congress, I sponsored the Help America Vote Act as a result of the challenge that we had in Florida, and the 5 people elected the President of the United States, making the determination.
If Russian operatives were successful in hacking into servers in thirty-nine states connected to voting systems and elections personnel, we ought to be very concerned about the security of future elections.
Today’s decision by the Supreme Court not to revisit last year’s case against North Carolina’s 2013 voting changes ought to send a signal to Republican-led states that adopting tough voter-ID requirement and limitations on early voting and same-day registration will be seen for what they are: discriminatory measures intended to limit minorities’ access to the ballot box.
If the White House intends to create a commission to investigate voter suppression in this country, I hope its focus will be on the actual suppression of the voting rights of minorities, seniors, and students in states where Republican lawmakers have imposed barriers to ballot access since the terrible Shelby v. Holder Supreme Court ruling in 2013.
As a former Chairman of the Helsinki Commission, I was deeply saddened to learn of the killing of an American OSCE medic in eastern Ukraine from a mine placed by Russian-backed separatists.
On National Voter Registration Day, it is important to remember that the right to register and vote was not always guaranteed or respected in our country.
House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) released the following statement today after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit struck down North Carolina's discriminatory voter identification requirement.
Yesterday, Speaker Paul Ryan had some alarming news for members of the Congressional Black Caucus – he supports legislation to restore the Voting Rights Act, but he isn’t willing to bring a bipartisan bill to the Floor. Apparently, he “can’t do that.”
As we begin the new year and the Second Session of the 114th Congress, newly elected Speaker Paul Ryan has an opportunity to turn the page on the bitter partisanship of the past few years and show that he is willing to work across the aisle to get things done for the American people. The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that “House Speaker Paul Ryan starting this month will push to turn the chamber into a platform for ambitious Republican policy ideas.” But evidence points to the contrary, with the first items on the House’s agenda for 2016 being the sixty-second vote to repeal or undermine the Affordable Care Act, the eleventh vote to attack women’s health, and several bills that would undermine consumer safety, workplace safety, and environmental protections. House Republican leaders know these bills will never become law, yet they continue to pander to the far right with political messaging bills instead of bringing substantive, bipartisan legislation to the Floor. It is also unfortunate that Speaker Ryan has already taken issues such as comprehensive immigration reform and an expansion of paid family and medical leave off of the table.