[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 626 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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115th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. RES. 626
Designating September 2018 as ``National Voting Rights Month''.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
September 12, 2018
Mr. Wyden (for himself, Mrs. Murray, Ms. Harris, Mr. Udall, Mr. Coons,
Ms. Hirono, Mr. Markey, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Brown, Ms. Warren, Mr. Bennet,
Mr. Durbin, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Carper, Ms. Smith, and Mr.
Booker) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the
Committee on Rules and Administration
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Designating September 2018 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 prohibited, 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
slavery were denied full citizenship and prevented from voting by
English literacy tests;
Whereas from 1954 to 1968, minority groups such as African Americans in the
South suffered from the oppressive effects of Jim Crow laws designed to
prevent political, economic, and social mobility;
Whereas African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and other
underrepresented voters were subject to violence at polling stations,
poll taxes, literacy tests, all-White primaries, property ownership
tests, grandfather clauses, voter roll purges, and laws that prevented
former prisoners from voting;
Whereas Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10301 et seq.)
to protect the rights of African Americans and other traditionally
disenfranchised groups to vote;
Whereas in 2013, the Supreme Court invalidated section 4 of the Voting Rights
Act of 1965, dismantling the preclearance formula provision in that Act
that protected voters in States that historically have suppressed the
right of minorities to vote;
Whereas, since the invalidation of the preclearance formula provisions of the
Voting Rights Act of 1965, gerrymandered districts in many States have
gone unchallenged or have become less likely to be invalidated by the
courts;
Whereas gerrymandering has a discriminatory impact on traditionally
disenfranchised minorities, including by--
(1) diluting the voting power of minorities across many districts
(known as ``cracking''); and
(2) concentrating the voting power of minorities in 1 district to
reduce the voting power of minorities in other districts (known as
``packing'');
Whereas the courts have found that the congressional and, in some cases, State
legislative district maps, in Texas, North Carolina, Florida, and
Wisconsin were gerrymandered with the intent of interfering with the
constitutional right to vote;
Whereas the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in Shelby County
v. Holder, 570 U.S. 529 (2013), calls on Congress to fix the formula in
the Voting Rights Act of 1965;
Whereas some form of a restrictive voting law has been instituted in 33 States
since 2013;
Whereas restrictive voting laws have resulted in cutbacks in early voting, voter
roll purges, placement of faulty equipment in minority communities, a
requirement of photo identification, the procurement of which amounts to
a modern day poll tax, and the elimination of same-day registration;
Whereas more than 80,000,000 minority, elderly, poor, and disabled voters could
be disenfranchised by restrictive voting laws;
Whereas in 2016, discriminatory laws in North Carolina, Wisconsin, North Dakota,
and Texas have been ruled unconstitutional and overturned by the courts;
Whereas there are local elected officials who refuse to adhere to Federal court
decisions that have struck down suppressive voting laws instituted since
Shelby County v. Holder;
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 the month of September is an appropriate month to designate as
``National Voting Rights Month'': Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) supports the designation of September 2018 as
``National Voting Rights Month'';
(2) encourages all people in the United States to uphold
the right of every citizen to exercise the sacred and
fundamental right to vote; and
(3) to further the mission of allowing all citizens to
vote, supports the following actions:
(A) The development by public schools and
universities of an academic curriculum that educates
students about--
(i) the importance of voting, how to
register to vote, where to vote, and the
different forms of voting;
(ii) the history of voter suppression in
the United States before the passage of the
Voting Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10301 et
seq.);
(iii) current issues relating to laws
passed after 1965 that restrict the right to
vote; and
(iv) the actions taken by State and Federal
Government officials since passage of the
Voting Rights Act of 1965 that have created
barriers to the exercise of the right to vote.
(B) During the month of September, the issuance of
a special Fannie Lou Hamer stamp by the Postmaster
General of the United States Postal Service to remind
people in the United States that ordinary citizens
risked their lives, marched, and participated in the
great democracy of the United States so that all
citizens would have the fundamental right to vote.
(C) The allocation of requisite funds by Congress
for public service announcements--
(i) to remind people in the United States
when elections are being held and urge people
to vote; and
(ii) through various forms of media,
including television, radio, newspapers,
magazines, social media, billboards, and buses.
(D) The passage of legislation by Congress to allow
any citizen to be automatically registered to vote in
Federal elections when that citizen reaches the age of
18 years.
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