Democrats try again to revive the Voting Rights Act but face long odds
[July 30, 2025]
By MATT BROWN
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats reintroduced a bill Tuesday to
restore and expand protections enshrined in the Voting Rights Act of
1965, their latest long-shot attempt to revive the landmark law just
days before its 60th anniversary and at a time of renewed debate over
the future administration of American elections.
Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia unveiled the measure, titled the John R.
Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, with the backing of Democratic
leaders. The bill stands little chance of passage in the Republican-led
Congress, but it provides the clearest articulation of Democrats' agenda
on voting rights and election reform.
The legislation would reestablish and expand the requirement that states
and localities with a history of discrimination get federal approval
before changing their voting laws. It would also require states to allow
same-day voter registration, prevent voters from being purged from voter
rolls if they miss elections and allow people who may have been
disenfranchised at the ballot box to seek a legal remedy in the courts.
“Democracy is the very house in which we live. It is the framework in
which we get to fight for the things that we care about,” Warnock said.
“These last seven months have reminded us that we ought not take any of
it for granted. We are literally in a fight for the life of the
republic.”
Warnock was joined by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York
and Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, as
well as Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Cory Booker of New
Jersey and Alex Padilla of California. The senators were flanked by
dozens of activists, including voting rights advocates, environmental
campaigners, faith leaders and union organizers.

The reintroduction comes at a precarious moment for the Voting Rights
Act. The enforcement mechanisms of the law have been removed or hampered
by two decades of court rulings and lapsed congressional
reauthorizations. And an unusual push by Republicans in several states
to redistrict congressional maps five years ahead of schedule has also
raised questions about the effectiveness of the law in protecting
voters.
State lawmakers have enacted dozens of laws in recent years that voting
rights activists argue restrict access to the ballot, especially for
people of color, poorer communities and people with disabilities.
[to top of second column]
|

People stand in line during the last day of early voting,
Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart,
file)

Schumer promised that Democrats would “fight fire with fire” to
protect voting rights.
And Warnock warned of “an authoritarian movement that is afoot right
now in our country,” before denouncing a special session called by
the Texas legislature to redistrict the state’s legislative and
congressional maps. President Donald Trump and congressional
Republicans are backing the effort, which they hope will net the GOP
several seats in the House of Representatives and help them hold the
House majority.
Democrats first introduced the updated Voting Rights Act in 2021,
when the party had unified control of Congress. The bill came in
response to several years of states enacting restrictive voting laws
following the Supreme Court's 2013 ruling in Shelby County v.
Holder, which struck down the section of the Voting Rights Act that
required some states to seek federal approval for legislative maps
and election policies.
The bill passed the House twice in that Congress but failed to pass
the 60-vote filibuster threshold in the Senate. Rep. Terri Sewell of
Alabama reintroduced a House version in March.
The bill is named after John Lewis, the longtime Democratic
congressman and civil rights activist who died in 2020. Warnock
represents Lewis' home state, while Sewell represents Selma,
Alabama, the city where Lewis organized during the Civil Rights
movement and was bludgeoned by state troopers during a peaceful
protest on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, known as Bloody Sunday.
A picture of Lewis was positioned behind the senators as they spoke
about the bill. Blumenthal, the Connecticut Democrat, said that
Lewis' “stare is unrelenting. He’s going to hold us accountable.”
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |