Manchin, Murkowski call on Congress to reauthorize Voting Rights Act
Voting Rights And Voter Fraud,Joe Manchin,Lisa Murkowski,Elections,Bipartisanship,Election Law
WASHINGTON — Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, wrote a letter Monday calling on Congress to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act, seeking to jump-start a debate on a bipartisan path to bolstering voting access.
"Protecting Americans’ access to democracy has not been a partisan issue for the past 56 years, and we must not allow it to become one now," they wrote to the top four congressional leaders.
While the letter didn't name the bill, a Manchin aide said the senators are referring to the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which aims to require states with a recent record of discrimination in voting rights to get federal pre-approval before changing their election laws.
The Supreme Court in 2013 gutted the formula established by Congress to determine which states are subject to the rule, calling it outdated. The issue has since languished on Capitol Hill, with Republicans uninterested in re-establishing a "preclearance" requirement, and GOP-led states around the country moving to pass restrictive voting laws.
