U.S. Representative Terri Sewell, D-Alabama, called on Congress to pass voting rights legislation on the anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965’s passage.
In a video shared on Sewell’s X page, on Wednesday, commemorating the 60th anniversary of President Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act, the congresswoman called on Congress and Alabamians to push for the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act’s passage.
“Sixty years later, I would have never guessed I would be a member of Congress, and I would be carrying this seminal piece of legislation to restore the Voting Rights Act of 1965,” Sewell said.
“Progress is elusive, and every generation must fight and fight again to hold on to the progress that we’ve made, and to advance it,” she continued.
Sewell, who has filed the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act every year she has been in Congress since 2013, said she would continue to advocate for its passage as long as she is elected to Congress.
The act was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2021 and 2022, with Sewell saying the bill, “always stalled in the Senate.”
The bill, filed by Sewell this March on the 60th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday and the March on Montgomery, would restore and modernize the Voting Rights Act of 1965’s preclearance requirement for states and localities with a history of racial discrimination, providing a modernized framework for determining what jurisdictions are subject to preclearance.
Preclearance mandated that jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination had to receive approval from the federal government in order to implement changes to voting laws. The provision laid out by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act that mandated preclearance measures was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 2013 case, Shelby v. Holder.
The updated act would also establish a nationwide preclearance requirement for voting policies such as voter ID laws.
“The Voting Rights Act was signed into law exactly 60 years ago. But today, it is on life support after being gutted by the Supreme Court and far-right judges,” Sewell’s office wrote.
“It’s time for Congress to restore its full protections by passing the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act,” they continued. “We must put an end to this era of voter suppression and ensure that EVERY eligible American can access the ballot box.”
Sewell urged citizens, alongside Congress, to help advocate for the bill’s passage.
“I know that public sentiment means everything. I hope that we will all galvanize around the need for voter protection,” she said.
The congresswoman pointed to the legacy of late civil rights activist and U.S. Representative John Lewis, D-Georgia, urging citizens to follow Lewis’ ethos of getting into “good trouble” in order to advocate for social change.
“I remember the last time that John Lewis was on the [Edmund Pettus] Bridge,” said Sewell. “He was very frail. His body was riddled with cancer, but with a very strong voice, John Lewis left a message that I hope all of us will take to heart. He said ‘Never give up. Never give in. Keep the faith. Keep your eyes on the prize.’”
Sewell went on to describe voting as “the most important non-violent tool in our democracy.”
The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act has been endorsed by the Brennan Center for Justice, the Campaign Legal Center, the Legal Defense Fund, League of Conservation Voters, National Council of Jewish Women and the League of Women Voters.
“On this important anniversary, we must be clear about the unbridled attacks on the right to vote and demand that Congress pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act,” said LDF President and Director-Counsel Janai Nelson in a written statement on Wednesday.
“If we are to continue the pursuit of the multiracial democracy that the VRA set in motion 60 years ago and if we are to honor our republican form of government founded on representation by the people, we must be unwavering in our commitment to fulfill the promise of Selma, refuse to cede any further ground, and mobilize in support of equal voting rights and fair elections,” she continued.
The act was also introduced this year to the U.S. Senate by U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock, D-Georgia.
