Leahy introduces new voting rights legislation with support from Vermont leaders

S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., introduced new voting rights legislation Tuesday in a push by Democrats to protect voting access by overruling voting restrictions adopted recently in Republican-led states.

The bill, called the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, specifically aims to restore voting protections that were lost in two U.S. Supreme Court decisions since 2013: Shelby County v. Holder and Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee.

The Supreme Court’s 2013 Shelby County decision invalidated a decades-old formula that made it difficult to pass discriminatory voting laws, opening the floodgates for efforts to constrict voting rights, especially older adults, young people, and those who are Black, Indigenous or people of color.

On Wednesday, Leahy urged approval of the new legislation, speaking at a hearing held by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.

Read more: https://vtdigger.org/2021/10/06/leahy-introduces-new-voting-rights-legislation-with-support-from-vermont-leaders/