President Obama plans to elevate Thursday’s 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act with a teleconference calling for a major “restoration” of the law.
The president will participate in a national teleconference, along with Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a leader in the civil rights movement, to call for a renewal of the landmark legislation after a 2013 Supreme Court ruling that voided a major tenet of the law.
The president will celebrate the law’s anniversary by underscoring the “importance of restoring the landmark law and reaffirming the principle at the heart of our democracy — that all of us are created equal and that each of us deserves a voice,” the White House said in a statement.
The Supreme Court two years ago voided part of the law requiring nine Southern states with a history of racial discrimination in administering their elections to win federal approval of any changes to their voting laws.
The decision led to states such as North Carolina and Texas to pass stricter voter ID laws requiring people to bring identification with them to the pools.
Democrats oppose the stricter identification mandates, arguing that they result in fewer minorities voting, but Republicans say they eliminate voter fraud and only require people to bring proof of who they are.
The president’s teleconference highlighting the anniversary of the civil rights voting legislation will take place the same day as the first GOP presidential primary debate.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the timing of the event was not intentional but remarked “one person’s irony is another person’s serendipity.”
“Maybe there will be an opportunity for Republicans candidates to discuss the right for every American to cast a vote,” he said.
Since the 2013 decision, the Justice Department has filed several statewide cases aimed at challenging states’ voting laws, including a suit against Texas’s 2011 statewide redistricting plans and its photo identification requirements.
In addition, Justice has challenged several provisions in a North Carolina law that shortens early voting and bars the counting of certain provision ballots.
Justice also has filed 16 cases and pursued nine other out-of-court agreements to ensure that military voters and their families living abroad don’t face obstacles in casting their ballots.
In 2009, Obama also signed into law a bill aimed at helping military members serving overseas, known as the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act, or MOVE Act. The Justice Department has since proposed additional amendments to the law that would provide more protections for military overseas voters.
The administration also proposed legislation that would require a state or locality whose territory includes part or all of an Indian reservation or other tribal land to locate at least one polling place in a venue chosen by the tribal government.
Lynch has said the changes are needed because “significant unnecessary barriers” exist for Native Americans and Alaska Natives who want to cast ballots but are often required to drive long distances to do so.
In 2013 Obama also established a bipartisan Presidential Commission on Election Administration to develop ways to shorten lines at polling places and promote the efficient running of elections.
The commission in early 2014 issued a report calling on states to adopt several strategies, including expanding opportunities for early voting, adopting online registration, and managing and implementing tools for effectively allocating resources across polling places to reduce barriers to voting.
