John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act Letter of Support

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) has been vital to the prevention of actual and threatened discrimination aimed at Asian Americans in national and local elections, and for increasing the community’s access to the ballot. It is our nation’s most successful and consequential civil rights law; Advancing Justice – AAJC has worked to reauthorize, restore and enforce the VRA throughout the organization’s history as it has protected and advanced the voting rights of Asian Americans across the country.

Advancing Justice – AAJC was a key partner in the most recent bipartisan Congressional reauthorization  of the VRA. However, while the VRA continues to protect the voting rights of Asian Americans, its efficacy has been curtailed by the harmful and short-sighted decision by the Supreme Court in Shelby County v. Holder, 570 U.S. 2 (2013) (Shelby County). The history of discrimination against Asian Americans, demographics of the Asian American community, and the ongoing discrimination Asian Americans face in the post-Shelby County world highlight the urgent need to restore and strengthen the VRA through modernizing how to determine coverage for Section 5 preclearance, including the importance of practice-based preclearance to protect Asian American voters.  

Read more in our letter of support.