US Rep. Val Demings Votes to Pass John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act
ORLANDO, FL – Today Rep. Val Demings (FL-10) voted in favor of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which she previously cosponsored.
Rep. Demings spoke on the House Floor in support of the legislation. Video File Here.
Said Rep. Demings, “Today I voted to defend our democracy, and with it, our power as a people to control our own destiny. We reject the politically motivated lies which seek the undermine faith in our elections. No matter your ZIP Code, gender, race, background, or political party, I will never stop fighting for your right to vote.
“John Lewis devoted and risked his life for the cause of freedom. He called the right to vote ‘precious — almost sacred.’ I am proud that our legislation was named in his honor. Those who are trying to destroy our democracy will lose. Liberty and Justice For All will prevail.”
The legislation now goes to the Senate.
Background
America currently faces the worst voter suppression campaign since Jim Crow. State lawmakers have introduced over 400 voter suppression bills in 49 states in the 2021 legislative session alone. At least 18 states enacted 30 laws that restrict access to the ballot. These laws suppress the vote, make mail voting and early voting more difficult, reduce polling place availability, purge legal voters from databases, and increase barriers for Americans with disabilities.
Under the Voting Rights Act, these tactics would have been prevented from becoming law. The Supreme Court’s Shelby v. Holder decision gutted the heart of the Voting Rights Act – preclearance. Preclearance had previously stopped thousands of discriminatory voter suppression laws. Within 24 hours of the Shelby ruling, Texas and North Carolina reinstated voter ID laws, which were later held to be intentionally racially discriminatory.
H.R. 4, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act – which is based on over a dozen hearings and thousands of pages of documentation led by the Democratic House over two Congresses – would restore preclearance with a new formula, which is ironclad constitutionally and which will make significant progress to restore the purpose of the VRA: “the banish the blight of racial discrimination in voting.”
Rep. Demings also previously cosponsored H.R. 1/S. 1, the For The People Act, which would help secure our democracy: stopping the partisan anti-democratic assault on our democracy from voter suppression, banning the scourge of partisan gerrymandering, stemming the torrent of dark money flooding our elections and empowering small donors.
In addition, Rep. Demings introduced legislation, the Every Vote Counts Act, to require every state to implement a ballot tracking system for vote by mail, require every county in America to have ballot drop boxes, and require NIST and the Election Assistance Commission to develop standards for alternatives for signature matching verification requirements for vote by mail.
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