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  • PRESS RELEASE
    25, August 2021
    Statement of Juan Cartagena, President & General Counsel LatinoJustice PRLDEF In Support of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021 (H.R. 4.)

Statement of Juan Cartagena, President & General Counsel LatinoJustice PRLDEF In Support of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021 (H.R. 4.)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

August 25, 2021 

Press contacts: 
Sarai Bejarano | Manager of Traditional & Digital Media | [email protected] | 212-739-7581 

 

Statement of Juan Cartagena, President & General Counsel LatinoJustice PRLDEF In Support of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021 (H.R. 4.)

NEW YORK, NY - This week the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would restore a modicum of dignity to the right to vote in America, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021 (H.R. 4). This is welcome news to the voting rights bar and organizers throughout the country that work to mobilize and educate voters on the importance of democracy. It is also welcome news to the largest growing segment of the U.S. electorate: Latino voters.

For decades after the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 Latino voters used the courts to enforce the Act’s protections and expand access to the vote. LatinoJustice PRLDEF was with them every step of the way since we opened our doors in 1972. One specific provision of the VRA, Section 5, expanded those protections in certain jurisdictions, many of which included Latino voters such as Texas, Arizona and parts of California, New York and Florida. In 2013 the U.S. Supreme Court decided a case that effectively terminated federal pre-approval of suspect election law changes. Since that time, covered jurisdictions exploited the lack of federal oversight and created obstacle after obstacle to thwart expanded access to the ballot box.

Indeed, today we are living at a time where democracy itself is in real peril. This is not hyperbole. Democracy’s fragility is challenged with each baseless attack about election integrity from partisan operatives that cannot accept losing elections outright. Even worse is the overt, pernicious admission by one of America’s political parties that if every eligible voter were able to vote, they would lose elections outright. Hence, voter suppression. And hence our resolve at LatinoJustice to work tirelessly to protect the right to vote for all Latinos.

The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021, H.R. 4., restores the precise focus of federal oversight over discriminatory election practices with a new, known-practices coverage formula that targets necessary monitoring to those jurisdictions that have limited the vote in various ways, including the withdrawal of multilanguage materials and assistance. In short, H.R. 4 would protect against the practices that have sullied the country’s historical march towards justice and inclusiveness in democracy. And in doing so it burnishes the legacy of the late John Lewis.

LatinoJustice urges the U.S. Senate to follow suit and pass H.R. 4.

 

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About LatinoJustice
LatinoJustice PRLDEF works to create a more just society by using and challenging the rule of law to secure transformative, equitable and accessible justice, by empowering our community and by fostering leadership through advocacy and education. For nearly 50 years, LatinoJustice PRLDEF has acted as an advocate against injustices throughout the country. To learn more about LatinoJustice, visit www.LatinoJustice.org