[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 846 Introduced in House (IH)]
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114th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 846
Calling on Congress to enact a new preclearance formula for the Voting
Rights Act and condemning voter suppression laws enacted by States and
political subdivisions.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 6, 2016
Ms. Norton submitted the following resolution; which was referred to
the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Calling on Congress to enact a new preclearance formula for the Voting
Rights Act and condemning voter suppression laws enacted by States and
political subdivisions.
Whereas the ratification of the 15th Amendment in 1870 affirms that voting
rights cannot be denied to citizens on the basis of race;
Whereas post-Reconstruction Jim Crow laws severely restricted minorities' voting
rights, particularly those of African-Americans;
Whereas the Voting Rights Act of 1965 contributed to a significant increase in
voter registration and participation by African-Americans and other
minorities;
Whereas the Supreme Court's 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder struck down
section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act, the coverage provision of the law
that identified States and political subdivisions with a chronic history
of passing restrictive voting laws;
Whereas the Shelby County decision effectively immobilized section 5 of the
Voting Rights Act of 1965, which allowed the Department of Justice and
Federal courts to ``preclear'' any proposed changes to voting rules,
allowing a preemptive strike of unjust and discriminatory voting laws in
the regions identified by section 4(b);
Whereas the absence of this preclearance requirement has allowed for voter
suppression laws to proliferate by permitting States and political
subdivisions to pass restrictive voting laws without Federal
preclearance determining if the laws are racially discriminatory;
Whereas 15 States will implement new voting restrictions such as burdensome
government-issued photo identification requirements and reduced early
voting hours for the 2016 general election for the first time;
Whereas more than 21 million Americans lack government-issued photo
identification and a disproportionate number of those Americans are low-
income, elderly, or people of color;
Whereas African-Americans are between 108 percent and 305 percent, and Latinos
are between 58 percent and 195 percent, more likely than Whites to lack
acceptable identification required to vote;
Whereas 10,800 eligible Latino voters in Alabama, 4,700 eligible Latino voters
in Mississippi, 45,600 eligible Latino voters in Virginia, and many
eligible Latino voters elsewhere will find it more difficult to vote in
2016 than in 2012 due to voter identification laws;
Whereas since the Shelby County decision, four States (Nebraska, North Carolina,
Ohio, and Wisconsin) have reduced early voting access;
Whereas restricting early voting disproportionately affects low-income citizens,
people of color, and the elderly, who often rely on flexible, early
voting periods;
Whereas since the Shelby County decision, four States (Alabama, Georgia, Kansas,
and Tennessee) have passed laws requiring voters to provide proof of
citizenship to vote;
Whereas many voting-eligible, low-income Latino voters are naturalized United
States citizens who lack proof of citizenship and cannot afford a
Certificate of Citizenship or a Replacement Certificate of
Naturalization, which cost $600 and $345, respectively;
Whereas since the Shelby County decision, two States (Virginia and Wisconsin)
have imposed more stringent requirements on nongovernmental
organizations that help to register and engage citizens in voter
participation;
Whereas restricting nongovernmental voter participation organizations directly
affects low-income citizens, people of color, and the elderly, as these
organizations are particularly likely to reach and engage these
populations;
Whereas since the Shelby County decision, five States (Arizona, Arkansas, New
Jersey, Texas, and Utah) have passed laws making it more difficult to
vote by absentee ballot;
Whereas reducing absentee voting disproportionately affects low-income minority
voters, who are more likely than other citizens to have inflexible work-
and childcare-related schedules;
Whereas since the Shelby County decision, three States (Florida, Iowa, and South
Dakota) have maintained voter laws denying returning citizens or former
felons the right to vote;
Whereas in addition to State-level voter suppression laws, political
subdivisions have also passed new laws that suppress minority voters,
including reducing the number of polling places and offering
insufficient language-assistance for non-English-speaking voters;
Whereas reducing the number of polling places disproportionately affects
minority communities; for example, in Maricopa County, Arizona, a county
that is 30-percent Latino, election officials reduced the number of
polling places to one polling place for every 21,000 voters, compared to
one polling place for every 2,500 voters in the rest of the State for
the 2016 primary;
Whereas insufficient language assistance at polling places could possibly
threaten eligible Latino voters in the 2016 election, as local
jurisdictions in Florida and Texas have limited language-assistance
programs;
Whereas in the last month, courts have struck down restrictive voting laws in
four States (Texas, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Ohio), demonstrating
the discriminatory nature of voting restrictions that have proliferated
post-Shelby County;
Whereas had a preclearance formula been in effect, the Department of Justice and
Federal courts would have been able to prevent discriminatory voter
suppression laws from being passed; and
Whereas many unjust voter laws that were passed or went into effect after the
Shelby County decision threaten to affect a significant number of
minority voters on election day, November 8, 2016: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) calls on Congress to enact a new preclearance formula
for the Voting Rights Act of 1965, based on the Voting Rights
Amendment Act (H.R. 3899, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress) and
the Voting Rights Advancement Act (H.R. 2876, One Hundred
Fourteenth Congress); and
(2) condemns the use by States and political subdivisions
of the voter suppression laws and techniques described in the
preamble of this resolution.
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