State Voting Rights Acts (state VRAs), which allow states to go above and beyond the floor set by the federal Voting Rights Act (VRA) to protect and serve their voters, are an innovative solution to protect the freedom to vote in state and local elections.
Back to topAs state legislatures convene in all fifty states to pass new laws, thousands of newly elected lawmakers will have a chance to add their voices to the process. Hopefully, many of them will prioritize laws and policies that protect the freedom to vote.
This issue is particularly important given that the past few years have seen the proliferation of...
Following the Supreme Court's disastrous decision in Shelby County v. Holder in 2013 that gutted certain provisions of the federal Voting Rights Act (VRA) and subsequent decisions that have further chipped away at the VRA, some states and localities rushed to pass anti-voter laws and election systems that disproportionately target voters of color. State VRAs push back against that trend, making our democracy more accessible to all Americans.
State Voting Rights Acts (state VRAs), which are legislative packages of voting rights protections that push back against discrimination in voting and help to ensure that all voters in a given state can exercise their freedom to vote, can help create a more inclusive and accountable democracy.
State VRAs can help fill gaps in voter access and bring us toward a democracy in which all voters have an equal voice. State VRAs can:
Protect voters from racially discriminatory voting policies and election systems.
Instruct courts to consider a variety of possible solutions to discriminatory voting policies and election systems and to prioritize community input instead of the solutions proposed by self-interested politicians.
Reduce the need for lawsuits altogether by demanding that voters and local governments work together to fix discriminatory voting policies and election systems before resorting to legal battles.
Prevent discriminatory election systems from being implemented in the first place by re-implementing preclearance.
Allow states to go above and beyond the floor set by the federal VRA to protect and serve their voters. For example, the Virginia VRA criminalizes voter intimidation, and the New York VRA expands language access for voters with limited English proficiency.
In the past five years, California, New York, Oregon, Virginia, Connecticut, and Washington have all passed state VRAs, and CLC is working alongside partners across the country, including in Maryland, Michigan and New Jersey, to expand that list. CLC also files lawsuits to enforce state VRAs on behalf of communities of color, including the first case brought under the Washington Voting Rights Act, to challenge a discriminatory election system in Yakima County resulting in a historic settlement.
Our democracy works best when every voter can participate in it. State VRAs are a step toward making the vision of a government that is truly of, by and for the people a reality by making our democracy more inclusive and accountable to the people it was formed to serve.
