[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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