[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 152 (Wednesday, September 12, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6146-S6147]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE RESOLUTION 626--DESIGNATING SEPTEMBER 2018 AS ``NATIONAL VOTING 
                             RIGHTS MONTH''

  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:

                              S. Res. 626

       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;

[[Page S6147]]

       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.

                          ____________________