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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Camila Gallardo
(305) 215-4259
cgallardo@nclr.org
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Yesterday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers took the first step toward restoring the integrity of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) with the introduction of H.R. 3899, the “Voting Rights Amendment Act.” The bill was introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. John Conyers (D–Mich.) and Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R–Wis.) and in the Senate by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D–Vt.), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. In a narrow decision (5–4) last year, the Supreme Court struck down Section 4(b), a provision of the VRA that sets forth a preclearance process for states or municipalities with prevalent histories of voting discrimination.
“We are very encouraged that a strong bipartisan group of policymakers has stepped up to introduce a measure that will make our Voting Rights Act whole again,” said Janet Murguía, President and CEO of NCLR (National Council of La Raza). “Our nation has made many advancements in civil rights since 1965, yet voter discrimination and voter suppression are unfortunately still part of our current reality. We have seen many examples of this discrimination in states across the nation during the last election, and surely without a strong preclearance provision we would embolden those efforts in this year’s elections.”
“We are concerned, though, that the bill introduced does not go far enough to stop the kind of voter suppression practices that particularly affect the fastest-growing groups of voters in this country. It is our hope and expectation that this will be addressed as quickly as possible as the bill goes through the congressional process,” Murguía concluded.
NCLR—the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States—works to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans. For more information on NCLR, please visit www.nclr.org follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
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