Over the last 20 years, the U.S. mission in Afghanistan has sought to support the Afghan people in establishing and preserving the rule of law, good governance, and principles of democracy. While the failures of this particular mission are being debated elsewhere, we cannot allow our elected officials to neglect the same essential principles of democratic governance here at home.
Utah’s four representatives to the U.S. House should vote to pass H.R.4, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021. This bill will protect voting rights by amending the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to once again become what Congress intended it to be: a powerful tool to combat voting discrimination against minority groups.
The right to vote is foundational to democracy. Without equitable opportunity for every citizen to cast a ballot and have their voice heard, Abraham Lincoln’s ideal — government of the people, by the people, for the people — will fall by the wayside.
In the U.S., racial discrimination in voting has been the most egregious and persistent violation of democratic principles in our history. Though the 15th Amendment was passed in 1870, stating that the government could not deny the right to vote based on race, this amendment was never fully enforced. White supremacists continued to use violent terrorism to suppress Black voters and create discriminatory state laws, such as literacy tests, poll taxes and grandfather clauses.
Nearly a century later, after years of advocacy and protest by many courageous individuals, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 again sought to guarantee voting rights for all Americans. Despite these provisions, on March 7, 1965, Black activists seeking to register to vote, including John Lewis (honored by H.R.4 in its title), were brutally attacked by state law enforcement officers in Alabama. The horror of Selma’s Bloody Sunday shocked the nation and the world. It showed that the Civil Rights Act had not yet secured the basic right to vote for African Americans, a failing subsequently addressed by Congress with the expansive Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA).
The VRA passed with bipartisan support and has been widely acclaimed as a compelling symbol of American democratic success. One of the reasons the VRA was so effective is that it prevented voting discrimination before it could occur (in contrast to the slow and costly process of fighting discrimination after the fact in courts). The VRA instituted a highly successful process of federal oversight over voting practices, commonly called “preclearance,” in areas where racial discrimination was pervasive.
Since 1965, the VRA has been amended and renewed on five occasions, with bipartisan support each time. The last renewal was in 2006, when it passed the Senate with a vote of 98-0. Unfortunately, the efficacy of the VRA was curtailed in the 2013 case Shelby County v. Holder, when a divided Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional to subject jurisdictions to preclearance based on an outdated formula. Yet, the court’s decision left the door open for Congress to articulate new criteria that would more accurately address the kinds of discrimination minority voters face now.
H.R.4 is precisely designed to take up this invitation. The updated preclearance formula targets only geographic areas where racial discrimination in voting is prevalent and persistent, and it is based objectively on the number of recent violations of voting rights laws. Because both parties should be fully committed to representative government and the rule of law, H.R.4 should receive full bipartisan support.
As women of faith, we believe unjust restrictions on the right to vote of any American should be of utmost concern to all Americans. As we each seek to lead out in rooting out racism individually, we also call on our elected officials to support legislation that will root out racism in our democratic processes even when — or perhaps especially when — partisan lines must be crossed.
While seeking to promote democratic principles abroad, we must not neglect the preservation of our own democratic ideals. Utah’s representatives to the U.S. House should vote to pass H.R.4, a bill that promotes the foundations of ethical government.
Erin Young | Mormon Women for Ethical Government
Elizabeth Vanderwerken | Mormon Women for Ethical Government
Erin Young is the assistant director of advocacy, and Elizabeth Vanderwerken is a Utah chapter coordinator, for Mormon Women for Ethical Government.