Senior members of the Congressional Black Caucus are urging the Department of Justice to launch a full-scale effort to overturn new voting laws in Republican-led states.
The lawmakers issued their plea Tuesday in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, arguing that “no lawsuit is too trivial when it comes to the voting rights of citizens.”
“These unabashedly racist and partisan attacks on our nation’s democratic principles must be forcefully condemned and expeditiously reversed,” they wrote. “It is critical that you enforce every applicable law to ensure all citizens can vote.”
More than 41 House Democrats signed the letter, including House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn of South Carolina and CBC Chairwoman Joyce Beatty of Ohio.
Also signing were two of the Democratic Party’s progressive firebrands — Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.
The letter is the latest sign that Democrats are shifting their push to rewrite the nation’s voting laws from Congress to the judiciary. The move comes after two Senate Democrats last month rebuffed President Biden’s calls to strike down the filibuster and pass a partisan overhaul of state voting laws.
“If we do not protect the vote with everything that we’ve got, we will not have a country to protect going forward,” Mr. Clyburn said.
Democrats point to states like Georgia in arguing that a robust federal response is needed.
Led by Republicans, Georgia recently streamlined the requirements for regular and absentee voting and added ballot security measures. Voters seeking absentee ballots are now required to provide proof of identification, a common practice in most countries and already required for day-of voting in the state.
Previously, voters had to ensure only that the signature on their absentee ballot matched the signature on file with local elections officials.
Georgia’s law also expands early voting to weekends, ensuring that residents will have a maximum of 19 days before a primary or general election to cast ballots.
The law further expands the use of ballot drop-off boxes. It mandates that each of the state’s 159 counties have a minimum number of drop-off boxes for mail-in ballots.
“A lot of things that we’re dealing with in this bill are because we just had a global pandemic, and it changed the way elections operate in Georgia,” said Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican. “Before this election, we never had [absentee ballot] drop boxes. And if we hadn’t put drop boxes in this bill, there would be no drop boxes going forward.”
One of the biggest fights over the law is over a prohibition on political organizations handing out food and water within 150 feet of a polling location or 25 feet of a voter. In the November election, some groups had solicited voters outside polling locations with items inscribed with a candidate’s message, symbol or likeness.
The new law makes such political advertising at the polls a misdemeanor offense. Democrats allege the legislation is a throwback to the era of racial segregation.
“The laws passed in legislatures throughout the country do nothing less than to discourage and prevent certain kinds of Americans, black and brown Americans … from participating in the democratic process,” said Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat.
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