[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 626 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






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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