Pascrell Votes to Restore Voting Rights Act

Pascrell is original cosponsor of landmark legislation to restore key provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09) voted in favor of H.R.4 the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2019. The legislation would help address modern forms of voter suppression by requiring states and municipalities with a recent history of voting rights violations to pre-clear changes to their electoral systems with the U.S. Department of Justice.

“Many patriots have fought, marched, suffered, and died for the right to vote. Today the People’s House is doing right by those patriots in passing H.R.4, codifying voters’ rights into law,” said Rep. Pascrell, a longtime proponent of expanded access to voting. “Tragically but all too predictably, many states have enacted more restrictive voting measures in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Shelby vs. Holder decision to gut one of the greatest laws America has ever ratified: the Voting Rights Act. In the Land of the Free, this cannot stand. The Voting Rights Advancement Act will restore key provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and end voter suppression tactics before they go into effect. I would like to commend my friend Rep. Terri Sewell for spearheading this historic effort in the House.”

The Supreme Courts’ 2013 Shelby County v. Holder ruling struck down Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA), which outlined the qualifications needed to determine which localities are required by the Justice Department to pre-clear elections changes in states with a history of voter discrimination. Since the Shelby decision, nearly two-dozen states have implemented restrictive voter ID laws and previously-covered states have closed or consolidated polling places, shortened early voting, and imposed other measures that restrict voting.

The Voting Rights Advancement Act seeks to restore the VRA by developing a process to determine which states must pre-clear election changes with the Department of Justice. It will also require a nationwide, practice-based pre-clearance of known discriminatory practices, including the creation of at-large districts, inadequate multilingual voting materials, and cuts to polling places.

A co-sponsor of Voting Rights Advancement Act, Rep. Pascrell has long fought to protect the right to vote and preserve the integrity of our elections. This past year, he voted in favor of H.R. 2722, the Securing America’s Federal Elections Act of 2019 and helped to pass H.R. 1, the For the People Act, which would establish key election and voting reforms for the American people.

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