Congressman Garamendi Urges Congressional Action to Restore Voting Rights Act and Prevent Voter Disenfranchisement
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman John Garamendi (D-Fairfield, CA) today called on Congress to work together to restore Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, after the Supreme Court issued a shocking decision that sets back voters’ rights in America. He issued the following statement:
“For five decades, the Voting Rights Act has helped protect the right to vote in America. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has set back voting rights with a decision that has the potential to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters.
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“The court was clear that Congress must update the criteria by which states and local governments would be found to disenfranchise voters. Congress should quickly act to set those standards in place, so that every American can be confident that their vote will be counted and actually counts in determining the outcome of an election.
“I call on my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to restore voting rights protections in our country. Every vote counts. Every voter matters. Unobstructed access to the polls for every eligible voter is a prerequisite of a true and legitimate democracy.'
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“Too many American heroes have fought – and sometimes died – for the right to vote. We’re not turning back now.”
The Voting Rights Act successfully enforced voting rights that were taken away after the 15th Amendment was adopted. As Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg points out in her dissent, Congress, on a bipartisan basis, found that there were “more [Department of Justice] objections [of voter disenfranchisement] between 1982 and 2004 than there were between 1965 and the 1982 reauthorization. All told, between 1982 and 2006, DOJ objections blocked over 700 voting changes based on a determination that the changes were discriminatory.”
Click here for a link to examples of these violations and highlights from Justice Ginsburg’s dissent. Click here for a link to her full dissent.
