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The Issues

Voting Rights

RESTORE THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT

The Problem

The Voting Rights Act (VRA) has been called the most successful piece of civil rights legislation in American history. The VRA prohibits racial discrimination in voting and has been amended and reauthorized by Congress on a bipartisan basis in 1970, 1975, 1982, 1992 and, most recently, in 2006.

In June 2013, however, the Supreme Court invalidated the primary enforcement provision of the VRA, which had protected voters from racial discrimination for nearly 50 years. In that decision, Chief Justice Roberts acknowledged the persistence of voter discrimination and challenged Congress to come up with a new coverage formula to protect against it.

In the two years since then, Republican leaders in Congress have not taken up legislation to restore the VRA. Meanwhile, states around the country have moved to enact new voting restrictions, making it harder for students, elderly, disabled and minority voters to participate equally in the electoral process.

Fast Facts

  • Since 2010, new voting restrictions have been put in place in 22 states – 18 of them Republican led– making it harder for millions of eligible Americans to exercise their right to vote.
  • According to a recent study by J. Morgan Kousser (Cal Tech) of more than 4,100 voting rights cases, DOJ inquiries, and settlements from 1957 to 2013, more than 90 percent of these “events” occurred in jurisdictions that had been subject to review under section 5 of the VRA.

EARLY VOTING

The Problem

In 2012, voters in Ohio, Maryland, Florida, South Carolina and elsewhere around the country stood in long lines – in some cases, for as long as nine hours – to vote. Long lines to vote are not a new problem, nor are they isolated. They do, however, disproportionately impact minority voters, according to studies of the 2008 and 2012 elections.   As President Obama said on election night, “We have to fix that.”

According to the Brennan Center, early in-person voting opportunities shorten Election Day lines, expand opportunities to identify and correct registration errors and provide a better, more accessible voter experience. Over the last decade, the percentage of voters casting their ballot early and in-person increased nearly five-fold, but in demographic proportions roughly similar to the general voting population. In 2008, however, African American and Hispanic voters increased their usage of early in-person voting to 17 and 24 percent, respectively. By 2011, 8 states responded by passing laws to cut back early voting.

Fast Facts

  • Nearly one third of voters (47 million) cast their ballot before Election Day in 2012, more than double the rate of the 2000 election.
  • However, 12 states do not currently allow any form of in-person early voting and since 2011, 8 states have passed laws that cut back early voting. These restrictions are particularly likely to hurt minority voters. For example, in North Carolina, 7 in 10 African Americans who cast ballots in 2008 voted during the early voting period.
  • The bipartisan Presidential Commission on Election Administration recommended that states expand opportunities to vote before Election Day, saying that “early voting offers Americans opportunities to participate in the electoral process that simply cannot be afforded by the contained twelve-hour period of the traditional Election Day.”
  • Long wait times are a significant barrier to voting. In 2012, more than 5 million voters waited for more than an hour to cast a ballot and more than 200,000 people in Florida alone may have simply given up.

WHAT DEMOCRATS ARE DOING

The Voting Rights Advancement Act (Advancement Act) would modernize the preclearance formula to cover states with a pattern of discrimination that puts voters at risk. Based on a review of recent voting rights violations, discrimination is not just a problem in the South. California, New York, Texas, Alabama, North Carolina, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Virginia would be required to have all of their voting changes precleared if the Advancement Act were signed into law.

179 House Democrats are cosponsors of the Voter Empowerment Act (VEA), a bill which would, among other things, require fifteen consecutive days of early voting for any federal election. The VEA was introduced by Congressman John Lewis in May 2012. Despite bipartisan support for early voting from the Presidential Commission on Election Administration, Republican leaders in Congress have not taken up the VEA – or any other legislation promoting early voting.

 

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