[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 55 (Tuesday, April 12, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E428-E429]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       VOTER SUPPRESSION CONTINUES, SO WE MUST CONTINUE THE FIGHT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. TERRI A. SEWELL

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 12, 2016

  Ms. SEWELL of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, today on this Restoration 
Tuesday, I rise to acknowledge the continued voter suppression around 
the country during this election year and the ongoing battle to protect 
the constitutional right to vote.
   While the House was in recess, the state of Wisconsin seemed to 
digress in a decline of democracy through its restrictive voting laws 
hindering the most essential right on which this great democracy was 
founded; the right to vote. The newly implemented voter ID laws of 
Wisconsin have been compared to the poll taxing of the Jim Crow era and 
created a significant hardship disproportionately affecting some of the 
state's most vulnerable groups seeking identification to vote.
   After the Supreme Court struck down Section 4 pre-clearance 
requirements in 2013, several states, including Alabama, took that 
ruling as a license to trample on the Constitution and violate the 
voting rights of vulnerable communities and constituents across the 
nation. This election year has been especially revealing of the great 
danger involved in silencing the American voice and hindering their 
Constitutional right to vote. Enough is enough, and this continued 
voter suppression must stop now.
   As devastating as it has been to see this ongoing suppression of the 
American vote, we can find strength and hope in our country's strong 
stance for democracy and equality when we look to the recent Supreme 
Court Ruling on the Texas ``one person, one vote'' case. The Supreme 
Court's refusal to change the way state and municipal districts are 
drawn and upholding representation based on total population truly 
affirmed our nation's brand as a democratic society. The Justices of 
the Supreme Court delivered a strong singular statement that being 
ineligible to vote doesn't make one invisible.

[[Page E429]]

   Fundamental to our democracy is that all men and women are vested 
with certain inalienable rights and voting is essential to those 
founding principles. Permanent residents have rights, the disabled 
should be protected, immigrants and the incarcerated should be 
included. The Supreme Court decision makes it clear that all people 
matter and all people should be counted.
   We must remember that we are always more powerful united than 
divided and we all must continue to support equal representation and 
full protection of voting rights for all Americans. On this Restoration 
Tuesday, I give us all the charge to battle against the continued 
suppression of the American vote and stand strong by our principles of 
democracy, liberty and justice for all.

                          ____________________