Communiqué de presse
À l'occasion du premier anniversaire de la décision annulant les protections fondamentales de la loi sur le droit de vote, Common appelle le Congrès à adopter de nouvelles garanties
Le Congrès devrait marquer le premier anniversaire de la décision de la Cour suprême dans l'affaire Shelby County v. Holder en avançant enfin sur la loi bipartite sur la modification du droit de vote (VRAA), a déclaré aujourd'hui Common Cause.
“Racial discrimination against voters continues to subvert the integrity of our democracy,” said Miles Rapoport, president of Common Cause, in written testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which convened a hearing on the VRAA. “The Voting Rights Amendment Act provides new protections for voters in all 50 states and establishes a modern, flexible standard to restore tools that will stop discrimination before it occurs.”
“The Voting Rights Amendment Act is a bipartisan bill in keeping with the Voting Rights Act’s bipartisan history,” Rapoport said. “We commend Senate Judiciary Chair Pat Leahy for calling today’s hearing and call on the House of Representatives to act immediately. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte should call a hearing and a markup as soon as possible and give his colleagues from both sides of the aisle an opportunity to advance this critical legislation. We cannot give a free pass to discrimination.”
Hours after the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County one year ago this morning, some states began implementing voting law changes that disproportionately affect minority voters. For example, Texas announced that it would immediately begin requiring that voters provide specific forms of identification, implementing a state law that federal courts had previously blocked under the Voting Rights Act. And in the waning hours of North Carolina’s legislative session last summer, the legislature and governor joined forces to eliminate a week of early voting, end Election Day voter registration and enact a strict form of photo identification — all changes that disproportionately affect African American voters. Common Cause has joined in a constitutional challenge to North Carolina’s new law, and the Department of Justice filed suit last fall.
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