FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 3rd, 2025
***Press Statement***
On Wednesday, March 5th, U.S. Representative Terri Sewell (D-AL) introduced the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. This bill would help realize the promise of American democracy by restoring, updating, and strengthening the protections of the Voting Rights Act for the 21st century.
The Voting Rights Advancement Act would help ensure that jurisdictions with a history of voting rights violations are required to obtain preclearance, essentially the review and approval from the federal government, in order to make changes to voting rights procedures. This legislation is more necessary than ever. In the past 10 years since the Shelby County v. Holder Supreme Court decision gutted key enforcement mechanisms in the Voting Rights Act, state legislatures across the country have introduced and passed many new restrictive voting laws – including policies that have been found to disproportionately impact communities of color. Voters in 21 states faced new voting restrictions in the 2024 general election that didn’t previously exist in past midterm or presidential elections.
Over the past decade, the voter turnout gap between white and Black voters grew substantially. While it cannot be directly attributed to the Shelby v Holder ruling, a report by the Brennan Center found that the gap between white and Black voter turnout grew even more quickly in counties that were formerly subject to preclearance.
The Voting Rights Advancement Act, in conjunction with the Freedom to Vote Act, would act as a sword and shield to protect our democracy. The sword, the Freedom to Vote Act, would clean up our political system, combat the influence of big money in politics, hold elected officials accountable for corruption, expand and protect voting rights, and create a democracy that values the voices of all Americans. The Voting Rights Advancement Act would serve as the shield, protecting voters from restrictive anti-voter laws by ensuring that new voting changes in states with a history of discrimination receive preclearance before enacted.
As we approach the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday and the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the Declaration for American Democracy, a coalition of over 260 local, state, and national organizations, urges our elected leaders to take action to protect our freedom to vote by passing the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
For more information on how the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act can restore our democracy, please visit https://declarationforamericandemocracy.org/.
MEDIA CONTACT: For media inquiries, please email christine@DFADCoalition.Org
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The Declaration for American Democracy is a diverse coalition of over 260 democracy, environmental, labor, faith-based, good government, women’s rights, civil rights, and other groups focused on advancing the structural changes necessary to ensure our democracy reflects, responds to, and represents voters.
