[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 101 (Thursday, June 23, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4537-S4538]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           VOTING RIGHTS ACT

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, nothing is more fundamental for a democracy 
than the right to vote. Last year, we celebrated the 50th anniversary 
of the Voting Rights Act, one of the most important pieces of 
legislation we passed in the 20th century. It opened the door to 
millions--literally millions--of Americans to exercise their 
constitutional right.
  This year will mark the first Presidential election in half a century 
without the full protections guaranteed by the Voting Rights Act. Three 
years ago this week, the Supreme Court gutted a key part of the law, 
taking the teeth out of provisions that protect voters from suppression 
laws, with its decision in Shelby County v. Holder.
  Since that misguided decision, States across the country have passed 
new voting restrictions that would disenfranchise hundreds of thousands 
of Americans. Unfortunately, Ohio is ground zero in these efforts to 
restrict voting rights. These laws, passed by an ultraconservative 
State legislature in Columbus, include cutting early voting and 
eliminating Golden Week--created by a more moderate Republican 
legislature of a decade earlier--when voters can register and vote on 
the same day. In other words, early voting starts a week before 
registration closes, so during that week a new voter can register and 
vote in the same trip to the board of elections.
  This May, a Federal court did the right thing and struck down that 
law and reinstated Golden Week and early voting--proving once again 
that these State legislators went too far. Judge Watson, a George Bush 
appointee in

[[Page S4538]]

the Southern District of Ohio, found the laws limiting early voting and 
registration would disproportionately impact African Americans.
  Think about this: A decade ago, a more moderate Republican 
legislature created Golden Week and passed pretty open voter 
registration laws. This very far-right legislature chipped away, rolled 
back, and weakened these laws. A George Bush appointee to the court--
apparently also more of a moderate, open-minded Republican whom we saw 
10 years ago in the legislature--reinstated much of what these 
legislatures had done in the early 2000s.
  Earlier this month, another Southern District Judge, Judge Marbley, 
struck down another one of these restrictions. He ruled that Ohio's 
rollback of access to absentee and provisional balloting would also 
disproportionately disenfranchise African-American voters.
  In 2008, African-American voters voted early in person at a rate more 
than 20 times greater than White voters. In many communities, African-
American leaders and activists try to encourage church members and 
people in the community to vote early in person--totally legal. Often, 
some people plan to vote on election day, and then they either get sick 
or they have to stay longer at work and they lose that vote. That is 
why early voting is so important.
  We remember the scenes from Cuyahoga County in 2004, when some voters 
waited as long as 7 hours to vote. I remember standing at Oberlin 
College, where people had to wait 7 or 8 hours. In Kenyon College, 
students waited sometimes longer than that--9, 10 hours--to vote. For 
hourly workers, for college students who work the third shift, for 
parents who have to drop their children off at school, early voting 
ensures their vote will be heard. Maybe college students can stand in 
line a little longer because professors are pretty good if they miss 
class because they were voting, but a parent who stops at the polling 
booth at 5:30, after work, needs to vote quickly and pick up their 
child. If they have to stand in line for an hour and a half, they are 
maybe not going to likely vote in the end. That is why early voting is 
so important.
  In 2012, 600,000 people voted early. That was 10 percent of the 
electorate. That is 600,000 voters' voices that might not have been 
heard if we hadn't had early voting.
  Ohio's law may have been struck down, but too many other States have 
passed harsher laws that we know will keep voters--often voters of 
color--from the polls. Seventeen States have passed new voting 
restrictions since the Shelby County decision. It is almost like they 
were waiting for their Supreme Court--their very conservative, anti-
voting rights Supreme Court--to make a move, and then, in their State 
legislatures, they quickly moved to restrict voting rights.
  In Texas, a new photo ID law is under court review. A Federal judge 
called it an unconstitutional poll tax that could disenfranchise up to 
600,000 mostly Black and Latino voters.
  In North Carolina, the legislature and Governor have gone even 
further with a whole package of restrictions, including ID laws, 
reductions in early voting, and elimination of same-day-registration 
voting.
  We are the only advanced democracy in the world where there are 
actually efforts to restrict access to the ballot box. We know who gets 
hurt the most. It is African Americans, it is seniors, it is young 
voters, and it is Latinos. These restrictions were made possible 
primarily because the Shelby County decision undermined and gutted the 
Voting Rights Act.
  There is a solution. Congress can pass the bipartisan Voting Rights 
Advancement Act today. We have done these with overwhelming votes in 
the past. Congress almost unanimously reauthorized the Voting Rights 
Act not that many years ago, but then the court struck it down, as if 
the court is wiser than an almost unanimous Congress. We could restore 
the full protections guaranteed by the Voting Rights Act.
  In 1981, when signing an extension to the Voting Rights Act, 
President Reagan called the right to vote ``the crown jewel of American 
liberties.'' This remains true today. There are few rights more 
fundamental to our democracy than the right to vote. We must continue 
to do everything in our power to defend it.
  With elections at every level of government only 5 months away, it is 
more important than ever that we push to restore the most sacred of 
rights--the right to have a voice in our democracy.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Will the Senator withhold his suggestion?
  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I withdraw my suggestion.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan, and also an Eagle 
Scout.
  Mr. PETERS. I thank the Presiding Officer for that recognition from a 
fellow Eagle Scout.

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