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Congressman Cohen and Judiciary Committee Advance the Voting Rights Advancement Act

October 23, 2019

Bill can now be considered on the House floor

[Washington, D.C.] –Today, Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, supported the Judiciary Committee's passage of the H.R. 4, the Voting Rights Advancement Act (VRAA) of 2019. This bill has been a top priority for Congressman Cohen and his Subcommittee, which held seven hearings this year documenting current voting discrimination and the need for strong federal action including reinvigorating the Voting Rights Act's preclearance process.

After the markup Cohen provided the following statement:

"As the great Maya Angelou said, ‘when someone shows you who they are, believe them.' When jurisdictions enact laws that disenfranchise voters, we should believe that is their intent. H.R. 4 would restore the pre-clearance requirement of the Voting Rights Act and prevent jurisdictions that have passed discriminatory voting laws in the past from enacting laws that would further erode voting rights. The right to vote is the most fundamental right in our democracy, and it must be protected."

See Cohen's full opening remarks here.

The VRAA is a comprehensive and much-needed proposal to amend the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The bill is a response to the Supreme Court's 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder, which gutted the act's preclearance requirement contained in Section 5—by striking down the coverage formula that determined which jurisdictions would be subject to preclearance.

Through a series of hearings in his Subcommittee, Congressman Cohen established a substantial record documenting an ongoing pattern of voting discrimination since the Shelby County decision. This record justifies the continuing need for preclearance and bolsters Congress's authority for enacting H.R. 4.

H.R. 4 also strengthens other related provisions of the Voting Rights Act. The bill:

  • expands the availability of "bail-in" coverage so that a court can impose preclearance on a particular jurisdiction that has violated the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments, the Voting Rights Act, or any other federal anti-voting-discrimination law;
  • adds a practice-based preclearance formula that would subject any jurisdiction that engages in certain practices that have historically been used to discriminate against minority voters—like changing methods of election or jurisdictional boundaries, or imposing voter identification requirements—and, in most instances, meets certain demographic thresholds;
  • expands the Attorney General's authority to send federal election observers;
  • requires states and localities to provide critical public notice and enhanced transparency of voting changes and practices when they are implemented; and
  • amends the Act's injunctive relief provision to allow private parties to seek such relief and to make it easier for them to obtain preliminary injunctions.