ATLANTA – Power the Vote (www.powerthevote.org) announced that it has joined other national voting rights organizations in supporting Senate Bill 4, the reintroduced John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (“VRAA”). (A list of organizations supporting the Bill is available here.)
The legislation would update and restore the provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that have been gutted since the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County in 2013. In particular, the VRAA would reestablish “preclearance,” which requires that states and localities with a history of racial discrimination seek pre-approval before making changes to their voting laws. And it would strengthen provisions that allow voters to bring legal challenges against discriminatory voting laws.
Power the Vote Co-Founder Kimberley Allen said, “The right to vote is absolutely sacred — and the need for federal protections for voting rights has never been more clear. Republicans in state government are using every tool at their disposal to make it harder to vote, disproportionately impacting the rights of Black and brown voters. The VRAA is one important way that we can fight back for voters, and we support this important legislation to safeguard the fundamental right to vote.”
Read the Senate Judiciary Committee’s press release regarding the VRAA, as well as and the text of Senate Bill 4.
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About Power the Vote
Power the Vote’s founders led the Democratic Party of Georgia’s voter protection team during the 2020 election cycle, when the state flipped blue for the first time in nearly 30 years. The organization’s mission is to fund and support year-round voter protection teams at state Democratic Parties, starting in the battleground states of Arizona, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Texas.
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