Chambana Sun

Illinois State Rep. Carol Ammons (D-Urbana) in a Facebook post said Congress must pass the “For the People Act” known as HR1, which would expand voting rights, change campaign financing to limit the influence of money in elections, limit gerrymandering (redrawing voting districts to benefit a political party) and strengthen ethics rules for candidates. 

However, political observers say the People Act has little chance of passing the U.S. Senate after passage in the House last year because of Republican opposition. They recommended a second proposal also passed by the House, the John Lewis Voting Rights Enhancement Act. Observers predict it has a better chance of passage because it is less broad and controversial in scope.

Ammons indicated the proposed People Act legislation would counter what she alleged were voter suppression efforts in Republican-controlled “red” states whose conservative members want to roll back voting by mail, do away with ballot drop boxes and make tighter voter ID laws. Democrats contend Republicans are seeking to limit voter turnout particularly among minority voters after the last election which put Joe Biden in the White House. The defeated incumbent Donald Trump claimed the election was rigged.

"This year, laws have been passed by states all over the country in an effort to suppress the vote,” Ammons said on Facebook. “Laws that target specifically black voters. Make no mistake; these laws are a back lash to the largest voter turnout in history last November. Congress must pass HR1 to stop this assault on our rights. Today we motorcaded in honor of a hero (Lewis) as a reminder that fighting this fight to the very end is crucial to the survival of our democracy."

A report in the New York Intelligencer said 28 red states have introduced 106 bills critics allege are designed to restrict voter access. Congress has the power to override state voter legislation with its own set of federal standards.

Originally the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was intended to safeguard the right to vote, eliminating discriminatory practices particularly in southern states such as requiring a literacy test to vote. In 2013 a U.S. Supreme Court decision determined it was unconstitutional to use a “pre-clearance” requirement outlined in Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, prohibiting states from changing voting requirements without federal approval, either from a U.S. District Court panel in Washington D.C., or through a U.S. attorney general.

Richard L. Hasen, political columnist for the Washington Post, said the People Act has very little chance of passing the Senate. Instead, he suggested in a March 16 op-ed that a better alternative would be for Democrats to focus on passing the less-controversial John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement bill.

Named for the late Georgia Democratic congressman, the proposed legislation would restore certain parts of the Voting Rights Act struck down in 2013 -- for example, the requirement that states gain federal approval before changing voting requirements.