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The Supreme Court removed essential protections of the Voting Rights Act. But we can modernize and strengthen those protections by passing the Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2015.
people support the Voting Rights Amendment Act.
The Voting Rights Act (VRA) is one of the most important pieces of civil rights legislation ever passed. But in 2013 the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County vs. Holder removed protections that required states with a history of discrimination to get federal approval before making election changes like moving polling places.
However, the decision gave leaders in Congress the opportunity to create an updated VRA Amendment that will cover jurisdictions with recent evidence of discrimination. Introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.), the Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2015 will:
It only takes two minutes to call your representative. Phone calls are more effective than emails and with our call tool, it couldn’t be easier.
"I’m calling to let you know that I support H.R.885, The Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2015. This bipartisan bill will require any state with five violations of federal voting rights law in the last 15 years to receive pre-clearance for any election changes. As your constituent, I ask that you co-sponsor the VRA Amendment."
One year after Shelby County vs. Holder, the Brennan Center for Justice examined the ruling’s impact and found many states quickly moved to revive voting changes that were blocked as discriminatory and implement new discriminatory voting restrictions.
The decision has had three major impacts:
On the very day of the ruling, Texas announced they would implement a strict photo ID law previously blocked by Section 5 because of its racial impact.
In the 15 years before its operation was halted, Section 5 blocked 86 laws through its administrative process and several more through litigation. At least 13 of these laws were blocked in just the 18 months before the Shelby Court’s ruling.