Only the For the People Act’s Voting Rules Will Override New State Voter Suppression Laws

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Only the For the People Act’s Federal Voting Rules Will Override the State Voter Suppression Laws Newly Enacted in 14 States

A Democracy 21 factsheet on key differences between the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act

  • The For the People Act (H.R. 1/S. 1) and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (VRAA) are both must-pass bills that serve vital but very different purposes in protecting the right to vote.
  • Since the 2020 election, 14 Republican-controlled state legislatures across the country have enacted voter suppression laws. More such laws are coming, including in Texas.
  • Unless overridden, these laws are expected to cause millions of eligible citizens to lose their ability to vote in the 2022 and 2024 congressional and presidential elections.
  • H.R. 1/S. 1’s voting rules for federal elections supersede the new state voter suppression laws that conflict with those rules. The VRAA’s voting provisions do not, and will apply to new voting laws that are passed after the VRAA’s enactment.
  • Thus, only H.R. 1/S. 1 will override the voter suppression laws already in effect in Georgia, Florida, Arizona, Montana, and Iowa, among other states, and coming soon in Texas and other states.
  • The voting rules for federal elections in H.R. 1/S. 1 come from Rep. John Lewis’s Voter Empowerment Act, which he introduced in five successive Congresses. H.R. 1/S. 1 establishes the voting rules for federal elections on early voting, voting by mail, voter registration, and other voting procedures.
  • The Constitution grants Congress the power to establish the voting rules in federal elections. Thus, under the Constitution, the voting rules for federal elections in H.R. 1/S. 1 supersede all state laws that conflict with those rules. 
  • Once enacted, the VRAA re-establishes for certain states and localities a pre-clearance process in which the Justice Department or a D.C. federal court has to clear newly enacted voting laws. This pre-clearance process empowers DOJ or the D.C. federal court to prevent newly enacted discriminatory voting laws in certain states and localities from taking effect.
  • Congress must enact the For the People Act to supersede existing state voter suppression laws and must enact the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to prevent new discriminatory voter laws in certain states and localities from being implemented.

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