The State of Voting Rights in America
Floor Speech
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Ms. SEWELL. Madam Speaker, today, we in the Congressional Black Caucus gather to observe the 11th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Shelby County v. Holder decision and to reflect on the state of voting rights in America.
It was exactly 11 years ago today when the Supreme Court's conservative majority gutted the heart of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, eliminating voter protections and removing Federal oversight from States with a proven record of voter discrimination.
We have seen, in those 11 years, 31 States institute at least 103 new laws to restrict voting rights. It is no surprise that those laws disproportionately target African-American and minority voters.
The consequences of the Shelby decision have been clear and devastating: long lines, strict ID requirements that require time and money to obtain, closed polling stations in communities of color, bans on early voting and absentee voting, the purging of voter rolls, and the list goes on and on.
In my home State of Alabama, lawmakers have recently made it a felony to assist someone with their absentee ballot. While these tactics may be new, we know that they are borrowed from the same playbook that has been used for generations to silence the voices of African-American and other minority voters.
While Black voters may not need to count the number of jelly beans in a jar, modern-day barriers to voting are no less pernicious than the poll tax and the literacy tests of the past.
In Shelby v. Holder, the Supreme Court was clear that the onus was on Congress to come up with a modern-day formula to determine which States are subject to Federal oversight.
Well, I am proud to say that we have done just that. Working together with our Nation's premier civil rights and voting rights organizations, we have come up with a modern-day formula to ensure States and localities with a recent history of voter discrimination are prohibited from restricting voter access. We even named it after our late, great colleague and hero, Congressman John Lewis.
The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which we introduced for the fifth time in September, will protect the rights of every American to vote.
Despite our efforts, our colleagues across the aisle have continued to block these efforts from being considered.
The fact that voting rights has been a partisan issue is frankly baffling to me. After all, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was reauthorized not once, not twice, but three times with broad bipartisan support, most recently by President George W. Bush.
Yet, all of a sudden, our colleagues across the aisle have abandoned the issue of voting rights, choosing instead to spread disinformation and misinformation and to sow doubt about voters and the integrity of our elections.
It is sad, Mr. Speaker. It is shameful. As elected officials, we should be working tirelessly to ensure all Americans are able to vote instead of picking and choosing who can have access to the ballot box and who cannot.
Mr. Speaker, this fight is extremely personal for me. It was in my hometown of Selma, Alabama, nearly 60 years ago, where foot soldiers like John Lewis risked their lives on the Edmund Pettus Bridge for the equal right of all Americans to vote. They prayed, they protested, they bled, and some even died for that right. It was their sacrifice that gave us the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the crown jewel of the civil rights and voting rights movement.
Those foot soldiers were ordinary Americans who had the audacity to make this Nation live up to its highest ideals of equality and justice for all. They leave behind a strong legacy of courage and sacrifice, and we must ensure that it was not in vain.
It was John Lewis who told us that the right to vote is precious. It is almost sacred. It is the most fundamental nonviolent tool in our democracy.
Mr. Speaker, our vote is our voice, and our democracy is strongest when every American is able to make their voices heard at the ballot box.
As we gather to observe the 11th anniversary of the Shelby County v. Holder decision, let us draw courage from the sacrifices of our foremothers and our forefathers.
We are not asking anyone to put their lives on the line. We are simply asking our Republican colleagues to have the political courage to do what is right.
We in the Congressional Black Caucus are demanding that Congress take up and pass the John Robert Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and to do it without delay.
We are united in this fight, and we are ready to get into some good trouble.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Illinois for yielding to me, and I look forward to a rigorous occasion in which we talk about the importance of today being the 11th anniversary of the Shelby County v. Holder decision and our need to pass in immediate terms the John Robert Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
We in the Congressional Black Caucus are ready to get into some good trouble, and tonight I know that we will make sure that this good trouble is put to good use.
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Ms. SEWELL. Mr. Speaker, as we conclude our Special Order hour on this very important day, the 11th anniversary of the Shelby County v. Holder decision, we issue a call to action. We in the Congressional Black Caucus understand that the vote is the most fundamental tool of our democracy.
I cannot believe that 60 years after John Lewis was bludgeoned on a bridge that my colleague and I stand here today to talk about restoring the full protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
It tells us that progress is elusive, and every generation has to fight and fight again in order to hold onto the progress that we have made and to extend it.
John Lewis reminded us that ours is not a cause of 1 day, 1 week, 1 month. No, our struggle is a struggle of a lifetime, and everyone must do their part.
We here in the Congressional Black Caucus are doing our part. We are signing off and making sure that everyone understands that the alarms are going off. The alarms are going off because every American does not have equal access to the ballot box.
We see States all across this country that are imposing more restrictive voting laws. Voter suppression has become the cause of the day, and we must do our part. Our part is to pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and to fully restore the full protections of the Voting Rights Act.
Now, we know that the Supreme Court told Congress that we must come up with a modern-day formula. That is exactly what this bill does. It has a lookback of 25 years. We are not trying to make Alabama and Mississippi be held accountable for what happened in the 1960s and the 1950s. We are talking about 1997 and moving forward. We are talking about recent acts of voter discrimination.
We know that if we look back just 25 years, even 15 years, we know that there will be jurisdiction after jurisdiction that still has suppressive voting laws. As long as States are suppressing the right to vote, I believe that we have a moral obligation in the Federal Government to provide oversight.
We know that that oversight is critically important, and that is exactly what the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act will do.
As I take my seat, I want it to be heard around this Nation that we in the Congressional Black Caucus will not rest. We will not rest until we pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
To the gentleman from Illinois, it has been a pleasure talking about this most important topic. I know that I have welcomed you and your father time and time again to Selma, Alabama, to cross that bridge one more time. We know that a very frail John Lewis, with a body riddled with cancer, took to that bridge one more time in 2021. He told us to never give up, never give in, that ours is a just cause.
Because of that, we in the Congressional Black Caucus stand tall in our commitment to never go back to those days. We need to pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. With the help of the Congressional Black Caucus and the gentleman from Illinois, we will do just that.
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