Brett Wilkins is a staff writer for Common Dreams.
Civil and voting rights advocates on Thursday cheered the reintroduction of the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, legislation its sponsors say will 'update and restore critical safeguards of the original Voting Rights Act.' Introduced by Sens. Dick Durbin , Raphael Warnock , Chuck Schumer , Cory Booker , Laphonza Butler , and Richard Blumenthal , S.B. 4—a companion to H.R.
' The landmark VRA was meant to ensure that state and local governments could not 'deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color.' However, the VRA has been eroded in recent decades by Republican-controlled state legislatures across the country, including with restrictions on voter registration, reduction in early voting options, and voter identification laws.
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