The House Passed A Bill To Restore The Voting Rights Act

Yesterday, House lawmakers approved new legislation aimed at protecting the right to vote, amid a wave of restrictive new elections laws from Republican-controlled state legislatures. This bill was named for John Lewis, the Georgia congressman, and civil rights leader, who died last year. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 had been weakened by a pair of Supreme Court rulings over the course of the last decade, but Democrats say the bill, known as H.R. 4 would strengthen the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Those in support of this bill say that would make it more difficult for states to restrict future voting access.

Alabama Democratic Rep. Terri Sewell, who introduced the legislation, stated; “Old battles have become new again. I want you to know that the modern-day barriers to voting are no less pernicious than those literacy tests and those poll taxes. And what we must do, as we did back in the 60s, is when we see states running amok, we need federal oversight”

Source: NPR