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ust.“Now is the time to restore the Voting Rights Act — a bedrock voting rights law — and ensure that every citizen is guaranteed their constitutionally protected right to vote,” said Leahy. “Protecting the right to vote has never been a partisan issue. Reauthorizing and improving the Voting Rights Act has always been a bipartisan effort. There is simply no reason for that to change now.”Two major Supreme Court decisions undermined the landmark law, which had been reauthorized under three Republican presidents.In 2013, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=4053797526279899410&hl=en&as_sdt=6&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr">the high court ruled</a> in Shelby v. Holder that states with a history of voting discrimination no longer needed federal approval of voting changes, as required by the law. Since a lot of minorities now vote, there is no racism, Chief Justice John Roberts opined.A <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/19-1257_g204.pdf">ruling earlier this year</a> said it was OK if voting changes disproportionately impact minorities. It’s justified as long as legislatures say they are seeking election integrity, Justice Samuel Alito argued in the majority opinion.The John Lewis Act would restore the Justice Department’s power to pre-clear voting decisions in states with a history of discrimination and would create a new process to block certain voting restrictions in all states.It also would prevent the court from changing the rules governing who may cast a ballot while an election is underway — and then <a href="https://www.vox.com/21504075/supreme-court-election-brett-kavanaugh-andino-middleton-south-carolina">retroactively disenfranchising voters</a> who did not comply with the new rules. It would also limit the court’s use of its “shadow docket,” when emergency decisions are made without public hearings and with unsigned rulings.Court decisions have had a negative impact on voting patterns in the eight states that had been under federal review, according to a study by the <a href="http

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s://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/racial-turnout-gap-grew-jurisdictions-previously-covered-voting-rights">Brennan Center for Justice</a>.In 2012, before the Shelby decision, seven of the eight states with a history of discrimination had Black voter turnout higher than that of white voters. In 2020, the reverse is true in seven of those states, the study said.Freedom to Vote, a compromise spearheaded by Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, tackles gerrymandering, dark-money donations, campaign finance, standards for election integrity, and the protection of election workers.Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has vowed no GOP support, saying the legislation is federal overreach, although Congress has the power to set election standards.Democratic leaders said they are open to compromise and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who helped fashion the bill, is trying to recruit GOP support. More likely, Democrats will not get 10 GOP senators for provisions that will:<ul><li>Ensure all voters can request a mail-in ballot, improve the delivery of election mail, and set minimum standards for drop boxes.</li><li>Make Election Day a national holiday and set a 15-day minimum early voting.</li><li>Allow automatic voter registration when getting drivers’ licenses and permit a broad range of documents to be used as IDs when voting.</li><li>Allow ex-felons to vote after serving their time and require more accessibility for disabled voters.</li><li>Allow groups to provide water and food to voters in lines at polls.</li></ul>President Joe Biden says the country needs both voting-rights bills. Civil rights activists insist Biden needs to accept the need for changes to the filibuster and then pressure moderate Senate Democrats to do it.Pressuring moderate Democrats is not so easy, Biden has discovered in his effort to pass a legislative agenda that a majority of voters support. However, if it comes down to filibuster changes, it would be shortsighted and destructive to not include voting rights laws as an exception to the tule.</article></body>

Don’t forget to save our democracy

Any filibuster change must allow passage of voting rights bills

**Photo by Joshua Woroniecki on Unsplash**

With Senate Republicans vowing opposition to raising the debt limit to pay the nation’s bills, Democrats have begun seriously considering changing the filibuster to prevent economic collapse.

Yet any plans to change the rule requiring 60 votes to consider most legislation also should allow voting rights legislation aimed at preventing a disastrous collapse of our democracy.

Two voting-rights bills are now in the Senate: John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act addressing court rulings that gutted the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and The Freedom to Vote Act focused mostly on state election management.

After hundreds of new state legislation this year, GOP strategy is clear: make it harder to vote, redistrict to reduce the clout of racial minorities, politicize the management of elections and overturn unfavorable voting results. All of that creates a system in which any voter’s decision can be diminished or erased.

On Oct. 8, Sens. Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Dick Durbin of Illinois introduced the John Lewis Act, named after the late congressman and civil rights leader. The House passed its version in August.

“Now is the time to restore the Voting Rights Act — a bedrock voting rights law — and ensure that every citizen is guaranteed their constitutionally protected right to vote,” said Leahy. “Protecting the right to vote has never been a partisan issue. Reauthorizing and improving the Voting Rights Act has always been a bipartisan effort. There is simply no reason for that to change now.”

Two major Supreme Court decisions undermined the landmark law, which had been reauthorized under three Republican presidents.

In 2013, the high court ruled in Shelby v. Holder that states with a history of voting discrimination no longer needed federal approval of voting changes, as required by the law. Since a lot of minorities now vote, there is no racism, Chief Justice John Roberts opined.

A ruling earlier this year said it was OK if voting changes disproportionately impact minorities. It’s justified as long as legislatures say they are seeking election integrity, Justice Samuel Alito argued in the majority opinion.

The John Lewis Act would restore the Justice Department’s power to pre-clear voting decisions in states with a history of discrimination and would create a new process to block certain voting restrictions in all states.

It also would prevent the court from changing the rules governing who may cast a ballot while an election is underway — and then retroactively disenfranchising voters who did not comply with the new rules. It would also limit the court’s use of its “shadow docket,” when emergency decisions are made without public hearings and with unsigned rulings.

Court decisions have had a negative impact on voting patterns in the eight states that had been under federal review, according to a study by the Brennan Center for Justice.

In 2012, before the Shelby decision, seven of the eight states with a history of discrimination had Black voter turnout higher than that of white voters. In 2020, the reverse is true in seven of those states, the study said.

Freedom to Vote, a compromise spearheaded by Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, tackles gerrymandering, dark-money donations, campaign finance, standards for election integrity, and the protection of election workers.

Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has vowed no GOP support, saying the legislation is federal overreach, although Congress has the power to set election standards.

Democratic leaders said they are open to compromise and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who helped fashion the bill, is trying to recruit GOP support. More likely, Democrats will not get 10 GOP senators for provisions that will:

Ensure all voters can request a mail-in ballot, improve the delivery of election mail, and set minimum standards for drop boxes.
Make Election Day a national holiday and set a 15-day minimum early voting.
Allow automatic voter registration when getting drivers’ licenses and permit a broad range of documents to be used as IDs when voting.
Allow ex-felons to vote after serving their time and require more accessibility for disabled voters.
Allow groups to provide water and food to voters in lines at polls.

President Joe Biden says the country needs both voting-rights bills. Civil rights activists insist Biden needs to accept the need for changes to the filibuster and then pressure moderate Senate Democrats to do it.

Pressuring moderate Democrats is not so easy, Biden has discovered in his effort to pass a legislative agenda that a majority of voters support. However, if it comes down to filibuster changes, it would be shortsighted and destructive to not include voting rights laws as an exception to the tule.