A resolution designating September 2019 as "National Voting Rights Month".

III 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. RES. 309 Designating September 2019 as ‘‘National Voting Rights Month’’. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 Mr. WYDEN (for himself, Mr. BENNET, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. BROWN, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. COONS, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. DURBIN, Ms. HARRIS, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. JONES, Mr. KAINE, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. MERKLEY, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. SMITH, Mr. UDALL, and Mr. VAN HOLLEN) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary RESOLUTION Designating September 2019 as ‘‘National Voting Rights Month’’. Whereas voting is one of the single most important rights that can be exercised in a democracy; Whereas, over the course of history, various voter suppression laws in the United States have hindered, and even pro- hibited, certain individuals and groups from exercising the right to vote; Whereas, during the 19th and early 20th centuries, Native Americans and people who were born to United States citizens abroad, people who spoke a language other than English, and people who were formerly subjected to slav- VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Sep 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR309.IS SR309 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 2 •SRES 309 IS ery were denied full citizenship and prevented from vot- ing by English literacy tests; Whereas, since the 1870s, minority groups such as African Americans in the South have suffered from the oppres- sive effects of Jim Crow laws designed to prevent polit- ical, economic, and social mobility; Whereas African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, Na- tive Americans, and other underrepresented voters were subject to violence, poll taxes, literacy tests, all-White pri- maries, property ownership tests, and grandfather clauses; Whereas members of the aforementioned groups and others are currently, in some cases, subject to intimidation, voter roll purges, bans on former prisoners from voting, and financial barriers that act effectively as modern day poll taxes; Whereas, in 1965, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10301 et seq.) to protect the right of African Americans and other traditionally disenfran- chised groups to vote, among other reasons; Whereas, in 2013, the Supreme Court of the United States invalidated section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, dismantling the preclearance formula provision in that Act that protected voters in States and localities that his- torically have suppressed the right of minorities to vote; Whereas, since the invalidation of the preclearance formula provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, gerry- mandered districts in many States have gone unchal- lenged or have become less likely to be invalidated by the courts; VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Sep 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR309.IS SR309 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 3 •SRES 309 IS Whereas these gerrymandered districts have been found to have a discriminatory impact on traditionally disenfran- chised minorities through tactics that include ‘‘cracking’’, diluting the voting power of minorities across many dis- tricts, and ‘‘packing’’, concentrating minority voters’ power in one district to reduce their voting power in other districts; Whereas the courts have found the congressional and, in some cases, State legislative district maps, in Texas, North Carolina, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Wis- consin to be gerrymandered districts that were created to favor some groups over others; Whereas the decision of the Supreme Court in Shelby County v. Holder, 570 U.S. 529 (2013), calls on Congress to up- date the formula in the Voting Rights Act of 1965; Whereas some form of a restrictive voting law has been insti- tuted in 22 States since 2013; Whereas these restrictive voting laws encompass cutbacks in early voting, voter roll purges, placement of faulty equip- ment in minority communities, requirement of photo identification—the procurement of which amounts to a modern day poll tax, and the elimination of same-day registration; Whereas these changes could outright disenfranchise or make voting much more difficult for more than 80,000,000 mi- nority, elderly, poor, and disabled voters, among other groups; Whereas, in 2016, discriminatory laws in North Carolina, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and Texas were ruled to vio- late voters’ rights and overturned by the courts; VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Sep 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR309.IS SR309 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 4 •SRES 309 IS Whereas there is much more work to be done to ensure all citizens of the United States have the right to vote; Whereas National Voter Registration Day is September 25; and Whereas September 2019 would be an appropriate month to designate as ‘‘National Voting Rights Month’’: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Senate— 1 (1) designates September 2019 as ‘‘National 2 Voting Rights Month’’; 3 (2) encourages all people in the United States 4 to uphold the right of every citizen to exercise the 5 sacred and fundamental right to vote; 6 (3) encourages Congress to pass— 7 (A) the For the People Act of 2019 (S. 8 949 and H.R. 1 of the 116th Congress), to in- 9 crease voters’ access to the ballot, prohibit the 10 use of deceptive practices to intimidate voters, 11 end gerrymandering, create automatic voter 12 registration, limit the power of restrictive voter 13 identification laws, make critical investments in 14 election infrastructure and technology, and ad- 15 dress corruption in campaign finance and eth- 16 ics; 17 (B) the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 18 2019 (S. 561 and H.R. 4 of the 116th Con- 19 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Sep 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR309.IS SR309 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 5 •SRES 309 IS gress), to restore the protections of the Voting 1 Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10301 et seq.) 2 that prohibit discriminatory voting practices, re- 3 move barriers to voting, and provide protections 4 for minority voters in States with a history of 5 voting discrimination; 6 (C) the Securing America’s Federal Elec- 7 tions Act, or the SAFE Act (S. 2238 and H.R. 8 2722 of the 116th Congress), to provide fund- 9 ing for States to improve the administration of 10 elections, including by enhancing technology 11 and election security, replacing antiquated vot- 12 ing systems, and meeting new standards for ad- 13 ministering elections; and 14 (D) other voting rights legislation that 15 seeks to advance voting rights and protect elec- 16 tions in the United States; 17 (4) recommends that public schools and univer- 18 sities in the United States develop an academic cur- 19 riculum that educates students about— 20 (A) the importance of voting, how to reg- 21 ister to vote, where to vote, and the different 22 forms of voting; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Sep 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR309.IS SR309 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS 6 •SRES 309 IS (B) the history of voter suppression in the 1 United States before the passage of the Voting 2 Rights Act of 1965; 3 (C) current issues relating to laws passed 4 after 1965 that restrict the right to vote; and 5 (D) any actions taken by State and Fed- 6 eral Government officials since passage of the 7 Voting Rights Act of 1965 that have created 8 barriers to the exercise of the right to vote; 9 (5) encourages the United States Postal Service 10 to issue a special Fannie Lou Hamer stamp during 11 the month of September to remind people in the 12 United States that ordinary citizens risked their 13 lives, marched, and participated in the great democ- 14 racy of the United States so that all citizens would 15 have the fundamental right to vote; and 16 (6) invites Congress to allocate the requisite 17 funds for public service announcements on television, 18 radio, newspapers, magazines, social media, bill- 19 boards, buses, and other forms of media to remind 20 people in the United States when elections are being 21 held and to urge people to get out and vote. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:30 Sep 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\SR309.IS SR309 jbell on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS