Since its enactment in 1965, The Voting Rights Act, (VRA) has been reauthorized and amended five times, with bipartisan support. The last time the Senate reauthorized and amended the VRA was in 2006, by a vote of 98-0 and for 25 years.

In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled in Shelby vs Holder that section 4(b) which determined states and localities must get pre-clearance from changing their voting laws from the courts or Justice Department., as outlines in section 5 of the VRA. In a 5-4 decision, the justices ruled that the formula used in section 4(b) was outdated. This decision effectively gutted the most effective means of ensuring protection of this nation’s elections.

Research from the Brennan Law Center suggests that two million more people were purged from voter rolls between 2012-2016 than would have been if section 5 of the VRA was still in place.

In July of 2021 in a 6-3 decision the Supreme Court stopped short in striking down section 2 of the VRA as unconstitutional. However, it upheld a law in Arizona in the case of Brnovich vs Democratic National Committee. The Arizona law makes it more difficult for Indigenous and African American people to vote by mail and casting votes out of district.

Section 2 prohibits laws and practices that dilute the effectiveness of votes cast by racial and ethnic minorities. It prevents states and municipalities from engaging in practices designed to make it difficult for minorities to elect candidates of their choice.

The Supreme Court’s ruling according to election law expert Rick Hasen, a professor at the University of California, creates a new hurdle for proving intentional racial discrimination in laws that makes it harder to register and vote.

According to data by Alex Tausanovich, of the Center for American Progress, voting rights legislation has repeatedly been blocked by 42 GOP senators, who represent just 21% of the United States population.

At the funeral of Representative John Lewis, President Barack Obama made an impassioned plea for the elimination of the filibuster. President Obama said, “You want to honor John? Let’s honor him by revitalizing the law that he was willing to die for.… If all this takes is eliminating the filibuster –– another Jim Crow relic –– in order to secure God-given rights of every American, then that is what we should do.”

The John Lewis Voting Rights Act is proposed legislation that will restore and strengthen parts of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In particular in will restore the VRA requirement that certain states pre-clear any changes in their election laws with the U.S. Justice Department..

Sixteen senators, who voted in 2006 to reauthorize the VRA, all voted against the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Lisa Murkowski, senator from Alaska, was the only Republican senator who voted for the bill.

Republican senators have prevented three different Voting Right Bills from reaching the senate floor, making it clear they have no intention of supporting any voting rights legislation. It will require Democratic senators to have the courage to either carve out the filibuster or eliminate the filibuster all together, to get a voting rights bill through this senate.

The senate has the power at any point to get rid of the filibuster by a simple majority vote. Power without courage is useless, and this Democratic senate, with a slim majority needs a good dose of courage.

Bishop Leah Daughtry the former chairperson of the Democratic National Committee stated, “Each day that goes by where another district is gerrymandered or discriminatory voting rule is passed, we get further and further away from a system that actually represents us all.”

This Democratic senate is running out of time, and if it does not act soon, we can believe 2022 will return power back to the Republicans, who have no problem misusing it.