WASHINGTON – On the cusp of the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, Congresswoman Terri Sewell introduced legislation to strengthen voting rights protections through federal oversight, named the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
Sewell said the bill has been re-introduced every Congress since the Supreme Court ruling in Shelby County v. Holder in 2013. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that a portion of the Voting Rights of 1965 that required certain states and counties to get federal permission before changing voting laws was unconstitutional.
“It would give us the tools we need to address modern-day voter suppression and ensure that every American can cast their ballot fairly and freely,” Sewell, D-Birmingham, said.
House Democratic leadership joined Sewell to push for the voting rights legislation during a press conference Wednesday. All House Democrats are supporting the bill.
“Never did I think that 60 years, 60 years after John was bludgeoned on a bridge, that the cause for which John Lewis and those foot soldiers marched would be our cause too,” Sewell said. “Sixty years later, it goes to show that progress is elusive, and every generation must fight to hold on to the progress of the past and to try to advance it.”
Under the bill, states with 15 or more voting violations within the past 25 years or 10 or more within the past 25 years, one of which was committed by the state itself, would be required to get federal approval before changing voting laws.
At least 94 states have passed restrictive voting laws since Shelby County was decided, according to a 2023 analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice.
“The most powerful tool that we have is our vote, and that’s exactly why extremists are trying to strip it away,” House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark said.
The legislation is unlikely to advance this Congress as Democrats are in the minority in both chambers. Republicans are pushing for their own voting legislation, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote, named the SAVE Act. It’s currently illegal for noncitizens to vote.
Sewell said that despite the lack of Republican support, she will continue pushing the legislation.
“We know that the groundswell of public sentiment matters, and we’re appealing to the American public to continue to join with us in this fight for better protections for voting rights,” Sewell said.
Voting rights advocacy organizations, including the ACLU, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and Southern Poverty Law Center, also rallied together Wednesday to highlight their support for Sewell’s bill.
Sewell will lead a Congressional delegation to Selma this weekend to commemorate Bloody Sunday and the Civil Rights Movement in Alabama. She said thousands will cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge Sunday to trace the steps of John Lewis and other civil rights marchers.
“What happened on Bloody Sunday was a travesty, and the whole world watched as Black Americans simply, peacefully marched across the bridge to aggrieve their government for the right to vote, a simple right to vote, which is a right of citizenship in this country,” Sewell said.
Sewell will welcome her Congressional colleagues to Alabama on Friday.