Democrats Push to Make Voting Rights a 2020 Issue

With an eye toward making the reinstatement of the 1965 Voting Rights Act an issue in the 2020 election, Democrats are pushing ambitious new legislation they hope will lay the groundwork for increased voter participation…. HR 1’s voting rights components — which aim to increase voter registration and access to the polls — have so far received more attention than its other provisions, but the details of the bill have less to do with reinstating the VRA than a subsequent bill, HR 4, which was introduced last week…. “Getting the Voting Rights Act updated and strengthened again is key,” said Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md., a key proponent of HR 4, which was introduced last week by Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala. HR 4, the Voting Rights Advancement Act, will give the Democrats a vehicle to conduct field hearings and hear expert testimony over the next several months to amass what Sarbanes called a “strong, robust record” for why the VRA needs to be reinstated after Shelby…. “Since the Shelby decision, a lot of jurisdictions across the country seem to have snapped back to an earlier time where they’re putting in place these measures that make it harder to vote,” Sarbanes said…. Sarbanes said that the heightened awareness of this issue could make this a potent election year issue in 2020. “If McConnell doesn’t take up any of these important reforms, I think it’s fair to say to the public, ‘Look, you gave the Democrats the gavel in the House in 2018, and we’ve shown you that we’re committed to make these changes. If you’re not getting satisfaction on that on the Senate side, maybe you should give the gavel to a new set of leaders and a new party on the Senate side,” Sarbanes said. “Whether it results consequentially in a legislative achievement … or the energy it produces gets converted into electoral momentum that becomes part of the 2020 election narrative … remains to be seen.”