The Battle Wages On: Securing Equal Voting Rights in the United States

Floor Speech

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Ms. SEWELL of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, on March 7, 2015, nearly 100
Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle went to Selma to
commemorate the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday and the 1965 march
from Selma to Montgomery. I was humbled to welcome so many of my
colleagues in Congress to my hometown of Selma, Alabama.

It meant a lot to me and the State of Alabama to also welcome
President and Mrs. Obama and their daughters, as well as President and
Mrs. George W. Bush to Selma to commemorate the significant events in
American history. The Selma movement for voting rights was a uniquely
American story of how ordinary Americans working together achieved
extraordinary social change.

I want to thank all of the Members and everyone who participated in
the Faith & Politics pilgrimage to Alabama this year. I especially want
to thank my Alabama colleagues--Senator Sessions, Representative Martha
Roby, Representative Robert Aderholt, Representative Bradley Byrne, and
Representative Gary Palmer--for their participation in the delegation.
A special thanks to Congressman John Lewis and the Faith & Politics
Institute for a job well done.

You know, Mr. Speaker, the opportunity to walk in the footsteps of
John Lewis with John Lewis is an unforgettable experience that is truly
transformative. The bipartisan participation by Republicans and
Democrats alike was truly something to behold, especially given the
hyperpartisanship of Washington.

It was something to see us gather together in Selma, Alabama, to
honor the sacrifices of the foot soldiers who dared to fight for voter
equality 50 years ago. I tried not to have any expectation from this
bipartisan showing, but I must admit my hope was that all of us would
be motivated by the experience of traveling with John Lewis, in his
footsteps with him, to honestly look at modern-day threats to voting
rights today.

Now that the spotlight is no longer on Selma, we must move beyond the
bridge and see that there is still a need to fight to ensure that all
Americans can participate equally in the political process.

New barriers to voting rights have been legitimized in State
legislatures across this country. Photo ID laws and efforts nationwide
to get rid of early voting or weekend voting are modern-day efforts
that have had the profound effect of restricting access to voting.

Any effort that restricts or decreases the likelihood of citizens to
vote is a threat to the voting rights of all Americans. There is no
denying that modern-day laws imposed to ostensibly prevent voter fraud
has had the ``unintended consequence'' of making it much harder for
certain sectors of the population to vote.

My father is a perfect example of an individual who has found it
harder to vote because of these modern-day laws. Prior to the State of
Alabama imposing a photo ID law to vote, my father, Andrew, a stroke
victim who has been wheelchair bound for the last 10 years, had been
voting by using his federally issued Social Security card, which does
not have a photo; but once the law was imposed, my father--who no
longer drives, who no longer works, is retired--had no way of getting a
photo ID.

After the Alabama law changed, my mother and I made sure that my
father would get a photo ID to vote. The effort was tremendous. We
transported my father in a special wheelchair access van and got him
into the old Dallas County courthouse, which was grandfathered in from
having ADA laws and, therefore, no wheelchair ramp. Once inside the
courthouse, the elevator to the registrar's office was being serviced,
and we had to wait an hour in order to use it.

Once we finally got to the office of the board of registrars, there
was only one person waiting on 25 people in line. My mother and father
persevered. They persevered to make sure that my father got a photo ID
that day because he was resolved in voting because his daughter was on
the ballot for reelection.

Just think of all of the seniors or disabled citizens who do not have
a relative or a person to take them to get a photo ID. This photo
requirement definitely reduces the number of and the ability of certain
segments of the society to exercise their right to vote.

In the Supreme Court ruling which invalidated the preclearance
provisions of the VRA, the Court said that the formula used by Congress
to determine the covered States was outdated, and it implied that there
was no need for the Voting Rights Act today since, after all, there was
an African American elected as President. Oh, how shortsighted the
Supreme Court was. As long as there are vulnerable communities that
face barriers to voting, there is still a need for Federal protection.

Just last year, after the Supreme Court ruling, the city of
Evergreen, Alabama, came under Federal scrutiny for unfairly excluding
African Americans from the voting rolls and for attempting to further
dilute their voting power with a redistricting plan that would pack its
majority Black population into only two of the five municipal
districts. Incidences like this in Evergreen, Alabama, remind us that
progress is always illusive and that the injustice suffered on the
Edmund Pettus Bridge 50 years ago has not been fully vindicated.

Mr. Speaker, beyond the bridge, there are still laws that explicitly
or unintentionally limit the access of Americans to vote. Now that we
have commemorated the movement that led to the passage of the Voting
Rights Act of 1965, what are we going to do to protect the progress
that has been made and to expand access to the sacred right to vote?

On March 7, 2015, while en route to Selma, President Obama signed
H.R. 431, the bill that awarded a Congressional Gold Medal to the foot
soldiers of the Selma to Montgomery march of 1965. Finally, this Nation
is acknowledging the bravery of these foot soldiers, who dared to make
this Nation live up to its ideals of justice and equality for all.
While a great honor, a medal is not adequate repayment for their
sacrifice.

Mr. Speaker, the greatest tribute that we as Members of Congress can
give is to work honestly and earnestly on a bipartisan bill to restore
Federal voting protections to vulnerable communities under the Voting
Rights Act. While I applaud bipartisan efforts made in the Voting
Rights Amendment Act of 2015, which creates a new formula that would
determine which jurisdictions require Federal preclearance, this new
formula that is in the current VRA Amendment Act omits key States, key
States like North Carolina, South Carolina, and Alabama. I can't imagine, Mr. Speaker, that the very State--Alabama--that prompted the Voting Rights Act that was signed into law 50 years ago would now not be afforded the protection of Federal oversight. The fight for voting rights was born in Alabama, and on my watch, it will not die there.

Voting rights advocates and everyday citizens must remain vigilant
and do all that they can to safeguard against efforts to constrict
democracy in State and local governments. Our democracy requires it. We
can all pay a debt of gratitude to those foot soldiers by voting in
every election--local, State, and Federal. We all have our part to
play, and we in Congress can play a vital role.

To echo the President's call to action, President Obama said on that
day:

Selma shows us that America is not the project of any one
person. The single most powerful word in our democracy is the
word ``we.'' We the people are tasked with strengthening and
safeguarding our democracy. We the people are responsible for
ensuring our Nation lives up to its very principles.

On the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act and the historic
march from Selma to Montgomery, I urge my colleagues--Democrats and
Republicans alike--to recommit ourselves to the work that was done by
our predecessors, to work together to restore the Voting Rights Act for
all Americans. That is the least we can do on this, the 50th
anniversary. I look forward to this august body taking up a voting
rights amendment act that fully restores Federal protection to all
vulnerable communities so that all Americans can definitely exercise
that sacred right to vote.

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