Washington voters have secured a significant victory in protecting the freedom to vote.
Following advocacy efforts by our partner OneAmerica, Washington Governor Bob Ferguson signed two bills into law that enhance the Washington Voting Rights Act (WAVRA) with critical new components.
These new laws provide historically disenfranchised Washingtonians with necessary additional protections against racial discrimination in voting and help ensure that these communities in Washington can continue to make their voices heard at the ballot box and elect representatives of their choice.
One of the new laws adds a preclearance program to the WAVRA modeled after Section 5 of the federal VRA, which, at its height, was widely considered the most effective tool for fighting discrimination in voting. Preclearance requires localities with histories of racial discrimination in voting to obtain preapproval before making electoral changes. Voting changes can only be precleared if they will not harm historically disenfranchised communities, thus stopping discriminatory policies before they take effect.
The other law makes a necessary update to the WAVRA by providing a clear, predictable standard for courts and parties to follow in assessing voter suppression violations. This update brings the WAVRA further into alignment with other recently enacted state VRAs, including in New York, Connecticut, Minnesota and Colorado.
Combined, these legislative improvements maintain Washington’s status as a national leader in protecting voting rights, alongside states like New York and Connecticut. Currently, eight states in total have state VRAs.
In recent years, Campaign Legal Center has filed lawsuits to enforce state VRAs on behalf of historically disenfranchised voters, including the first case under the WAVRA, challenging a discriminatory election system in Yakima County and winning a historic settlement on behalf of our clients. Campaign Legal Center has also frequently participated in lawsuits to defend state VRAs wherever and whenever they’ve been challenged in recent years.
Campaign Legal Center also continues to advocate tirelessly alongside partners in Washington and other states to ensure more state VRAs, and improvements to existing state VRAs, continue to be enacted across the country.
Following the Supreme Court's disastrous decision in Shelby County v. Holder in 2013 that gutted certain provisions of the federal VRA and subsequent decisions that have further chipped away at the legislation, some states and localities rushed to pass anti-voter laws and election systems that disproportionately target historically disenfranchised communities. State VRAs push back against that trend, making our democracy more accessible to all Americans.
These innovative laws allow states to go above and beyond the voter protections established by the federal VRA to ensure their voters are protected from racial discrimination in state and local elections.
Join us in the fight today to protect the freedom to vote in Washington and across the country.