Long story short … In 2013, the US Supreme Court invalidated a key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA).
The provision dealt with pre-clearance, which banned certain states and other jurisdictions from making changes to voting laws with getting pre-approval from the U.S. Attorney General or U.S. District Court for D.C.
The approval was meant to acknowledge that the changes would not discriminate against protected minorities.
Many counties and states, including Texas were previously subject to pre-clearance.
In a split decision the Supreme Court ruled that the provision was out-dated, and that it was up to Congress to update it.
Since the ruling, the Republican Congress had failed to take action on an update to the VRA.
Fast-foward to December 6, the Democratic-controlled House passed the ‘Voting Rights Advancement Act’ [VIDEO] which restores pre-clearance and other provisions that were part of the 2013 ruling. The bill passed 228 to 187, with support from all Democrats and 1 lone Republican — Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.).
The president has threatened to veto the bill if it makes it to his desk, but it’s not expected to be taken up the Republican-controlled Senate.
This week, the House passed the Voting Rights Advancement Act, a bill to protect voting rights by restoring the Voting Rights Act and increasing election transparency. This is a critical piece of legislation, and I was proud to support its passage. pic.twitter.com/WtKTyMG6B3
— Rep. Haley Stevens (@RepHaleyStevens) December 8, 2019