Voting Rights

"If 10 Senate Republicans won’t support this bill, then Senate Democrats must reform the filibuster," said Sylvia Albert, Common Cause director of voting and elections. "The freedom to vote must be protected for every American."

Aaron Scherb, director of legislative affairs for Common Cause, which supports the voting rights and the campaign and elections overhaul bills, said his group was ramping up in support of both measures.  “We’re continuing to mobilize and energize our thousands of activists and volunteers to do whatever it takes to get the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act this fall,” he said.

The House took a critically important step today toward protecting the freedom of every American to vote by passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. The Senate must follow suit and pass this legislation to repair and strengthen the landmark Voting Rights Act which played a key role in beating back the racist and discriminatory Jim Crow laws . New discriminatory voting laws, designed to strip Black and Brown communities of political clout by making it harder for them to vote, are once again being passed after the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013. This year, 18 states have already enacted 30 restrictive voting bills that make it harder for Americans to have a say in choosing our elected leaders.

Common Cause is urging every member of the U.S. House of Representatives to vote “yes” on the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (H.R. 4) to protect the freedom to vote of every American at a time when voting rights are under attack. The letter emphasizes that already this year, 18 states have enacted 30 restrictive voting bills that make it harder for Americans – particularly in Black and Brown communities - to have a say in choosing their elected leaders. The letter also notes that Common Cause plans to key-vote this legislation in our Democracy Scorecard, which we send to our 1.5 million members. 

Stephanie Gómez, associated director of Common Cause Texas, said the bill would give partisan poll watchers “unhinged levels of influence over elections” and said the bill would make it harder for all Texans to vote, particularly voters of color and those with disabilities. Her group also hosted what it called a "honk! for voting rights" protest, encouraging cars to circle the Capitol on Monday morning, hoping for a noisy show of dissent with social distancing baked in.

It is critically important that Congress pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to protect the freedom to vote of every American. The legislation, introduced today in the United States House of Representatives, will repair much of the damage done to the Voting Rights Act by the Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts. In concert with the For the People Act, this legislation will curb the coordinated effort by Republican state legislatures across the country to silence Black and Brown voters who showed up in record numbers last year to vote. Already this year, 18 states have enacted 30 restrictive voting bills that make it harder for Americans to have a say in choosing our elected leaders.