[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 556 Introduced in House (IH)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 556
Expressing support for designation of the month of September as
``National Voting Rights Month''.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 12, 2019
Mr. Veasey (for himself, Mr. Meeks, Mrs. Beatty, Mr. Quigley, Mr.
Cummings, Mr. Carson of Indiana, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Clarke of New
York, Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Yarmuth, Ms. Brownley of
California, Ms. Castor of Florida, Ms. Bass, Mr. Ted Lieu of
California, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Sewell of Alabama, Mr. Foster, Mr. Evans,
Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. Sires, Mr. DeFazio, Mr. Vela, Mrs. Kirkpatrick,
Mr. Clay, Ms. Moore, Mr. Costa, Ms. Johnson of Texas, Ms. McCollum, Mr.
Price of North Carolina, Mr. Brown of Maryland, Ms. Norton, Mrs.
Dingell, Mr. Lawson of Florida, Mr. Moulton, Mr. Green of Texas, Mr.
David Scott of Georgia, Mr. Lowenthal, Mr. Larsen of Washington, Mr.
Krishnamoorthi, Ms. Titus, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Ms. Jayapal, Ms.
Sanchez, Mr. Rush, Mr. Cisneros, Mr. Takano, Ms. Lee of California, Mr.
Khanna, Mr. Ryan, Mr. Swalwell of California, Mr. Crist, Ms. Matsui,
Mr. Loebsack, Mrs. Lowey, Mr. Smith of Washington, Mr. Sarbanes, Ms.
Roybal-Allard, Mr. Allred, Mr. Blumenauer, and Mrs. Lawrence) submitted
the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on House Administration,
Intelligence (Permanent Select), Oversight and Reform, Science, Space,
and Technology, Education and Labor, Ways and Means, Financial
Services, Ethics, and Homeland Security, for a period to be
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing support for designation of the month of September as
``National Voting Rights Month''.
Whereas voting is one of the single most important rights that can be exercised
in our 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 this right;
Whereas during the 19th and early 20th centuries, many Native Americans and
Americans who were born abroad, many individuals who did not speak or
write English, and many who were formerly subjected to slavery, were
denied full citizenship and prevented from voting by English literacy
tests;
Whereas since the 1870s, 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 groups were subject to violence, poll taxes, literacy
tests, all-White primaries, 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 to protect the
rights of African Americans and other traditionally disenfranchised
groups to vote, among other reasons;
Whereas in 2013, the Supreme Court invalidated section 4 of the Voting Rights
Act of 1965, dismantling the preclearance provision in the law that
protected voters in States and local governments that historically have
suppressed the rights of minorities to vote;
Whereas since the preclearance provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 have
been vacated, among other effects, many States' gerrymandered districts
have gone unchallenged or have become less likely to be invalidated by
the courts;
Whereas these gerrymandered districts have been found to have a discriminatory
impact on traditionally disenfranchised minorities through tactics that
include ``cracking'', diluting their voting power across many districts,
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 Wisconsin to be gerrymandered districts that
were created to favor some groups over others;
Whereas the Shelby County v. Holder Supreme Court decision calls on Congress to
update the formula in the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to better match
current data;
Whereas in 22 States, some form of restrictive voting law has been instituted
since 2013;
Whereas these restrictive voting laws encompass cutbacks in early voting, voter
roll purges, placement of faulty equipment in minority communities,
requirement of photo identification--the procurement of which amounts to
a modern day poll tax,--and elimination of same-day registration;
Whereas these changes could outright disenfranchise or make voting much more
difficult for more than 80 million minority, elderly, poor, and disabled
voters, among other groups;
Whereas in 2016 alone, discriminatory laws in North Carolina, Wisconsin, North
Dakota, and Texas were ruled to violate voters' rights and overturned by
the courts;
Whereas there is much more work to be done to ensure all Americans have the
right to vote;
Whereas National Voter Registration Day is September 25; and
Whereas the month of September would be an appropriate month to designate as
``National Voting Rights Month'': Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) supports the designation of ``National Voting Rights
Month'';
(2) encourages all people in the United States to uphold
the right of every American to exercise his or her sacred and
fundamental right to vote;
(3) encourages Congress to pass--
(A) H.R. 1, the For the People Act of 2019, to
increase voters' access to the ballot, end
gerrymandering, create automatic voter registration,
limit the power of restrictive voter ID laws, make
critical investments in election infrastructure and
technology, and address corruption in campaign finance
and ethics;
(B) H.R. 4, the Voting Rights Advancement Act of
2019, to restore the protections of the Voting Rights
Act of 1965 that prohibit discriminatory voting
practices, remove barriers to voting, and provide
protections for minority voters in States with a
history of voting discrimination;
(C) H.R. 2722, the Securing America's Federal
Elections (SAFE) Act, to provide funding for States to
improve the administration of elections, including
enhancement of technology, election security, replacing
antiquated voting systems, and meeting new standards
for administering elections; and
(D) other voting rights legislation that seeks to
advance voting rights and protect United States
elections;
(4) recommends that our Nation's public schools and
universities develop an academic curriculum under which
students would learn about the importance of voting, how to
become registered to vote, where to vote, and the different
forms of voting, including teaching the history of voter
suppression in America before the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was
passed, and teaching students about current issues that are
related to laws that have been passed to restrict the vote
since 1965 or any actions taken by State and Federal Government
officials since passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that
have created barriers to being able to vote;
(5) encourages the Postal Service to issue a special Fannie
Lou Hamer stamp during the month of September to remind
Americans about how ordinary citizens risked their lives,
marched, and participated in our great democracy so all
Americans would have the fundamental right to vote; and
(6) invites Congress to allocate the requisite funds needed
for public service announcements on television, radio,
newspapers, magazines, social media, billboards, buses, and
other forms of media to remind Americans when elections are
being held, and to urge people to get out and vote.
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