Short Film About Victim of Texas Voter ID Law Shows Why We Need to Pass The Voting Rights Advancement Act Being Introduced Today

Date
Case
Passing the “John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act” To Combat Racially Targeted Attacks on Americans’ Freedom To Vote
Issues
Voting and Elections

 

Today, as Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) introduce the Voting Rights Advancement Act (VRAA) on the eve of the second anniversary of Shelby County v. Holder, the Campaign Legal Center is releasing a short film focusing on a lifelong voter disenfranchised by Texas’ voter photo ID law (SB 14).  The most restrictive and burdensome voter ID law in the nation, the Texas law was rejected by the Department of Justice prior to the Shelby County ruling and is a perfect example of why Congress needs to pass new legislation to protect the rights of all citizens to vote. 

The new three and a half minute film produced by Firelight Media traces the efforts of the Campaign Legal Center’s Voter ID Project to assist Tony, a longtime registered Texas voter, to overcome the many hurdles erected by the new law in order to obtain the photo ID required by SB 14 in order to vote.  

“Tony’s deeply troubling story puts a very human face on the impact of a heartless law that disenfranchised hundreds of thousands of Texans, and intentionally and disproportionately stripped the right to vote from minority voters,” said J. Gerald Hebert, Executive Director of the Campaign Legal Center.  “Rep. Lewis’ and Sen. Leahy’s Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2015 will restore the voting rights protections undermined by the Supreme Court two years ago in its wrong-headed Shelby County decision.  The two-year anniversary of that terrible decision is two years too many without sufficient protections for voting rights.  States and municipalities around the country – but particularly in formerly ‘covered’ jurisdictions that were subject to the special provisions of the Voting Rights Act before Shelby County - have taken advantage of the vacuum in voting rights protections created by that decision to adopt a wide range of voting laws designed to make voting more difficult and in many cases impossible for huge numbers of minorities and the poor.  It is long past time for Congress to right the wrong done to our democracy by the Supreme Court in Shelby County v. Holder.”

 

To watch the film, click here.

To watch a previously released longer film, click here.