Georgia’s state government is currently purging nearly half a million registered voters from the voter rolls, one of the largest voter purges in the state’s history

Senator Reverend Warnock’s John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act would strengthen protections against potentially discriminatory voting practices like voter purges across the country

Senator Reverend Warnock served as Congressman John Lewis’ pastor at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church

Senator Reverend Warnock at the introduction press conference: “A vote is a kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and our children”

Link to press conference HERE

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) joined Senate Judiciary Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-IL), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Alex Padilla (D-CA), and 43 of their Senate Democratic colleagues in reintroducing the John R. Lewis Voting Advancement Act, legislation that would update and restore critical safeguards of the original Voting Rights Act of 1965 that have been eroded in recent years by federal court rulings. The legislation would strengthen our democracy by reestablishing preclearance for jurisdictions with a pattern of voting rights violations, protecting minority communities subject to discriminatory voting practices, and defending election workers from threats and intimidation. It is named in honor of voting rights champion and former Georgia Congressman John Lewis.

This legislation is especially relevant in Georgia, where the Secretary of State’s office is purging the state’s voter rolls of nearly 500,000 voters, amounting to 6% of Georgia’s 8.4 million registered voters. This legislation would strengthen protections against racially discriminatory voting procedures, which include improper voter purges. Most of the cancellations affect voters in metro Atlanta’s counties of DeKalb, Cobb, Fulton and Gwinnett.

“As I often say, a vote is a kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and our children,” said Senator Reverend Warnock during the press conference. “Our prayers are stronger when we pray together. Democracy is the political enactment of a spiritual idea that each of us has within ourselves the spark of the divine. We all have value, and if we all have value, we ought to have a voice in the direction of our country; we ought to have a vote.” 

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s damaging Shelby County decision in 2013—which crippled the federal government’s ability under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to prevent discriminatory changes to voting laws and procedures—states across the country have unleashed a torrent of voter suppression efforts, including SB 202 in Georgia. The Supreme Court’s decision in Brnovich v Democratic National Committee delivered yet another blow to the Voting Rights Act by making it significantly harder for plaintiffs to win lawsuits under the landmark law against discriminatory voting laws or procedures. 

In addition to Senator Warnock, Ranking Member Durbin, and Leader Schumer, the legislation was also introduced by U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT). The legislation is cosponsored by the entire Democratic caucus.

The VRAA is endorsed by 178 organizations. These organizations understand that voting rights are preservative of all other rights and progress on a range of critical issues cannot take place if citizens cannot make their voices heard. The list of endorsing Georgia and national organizations of The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act can be found HERE.

Bill text for the Voting Rights Advancement Act can be found HERE.

A One-Pager for the Voting Rights Advancement Act can be found HERE.