ATLANTA— As the 56th anniversary of the signing of Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the U.S. Senate’s Aug. 6 recess approaches, lawmakers across the country are pushing voter reform legislation.

The commotion comes after the For the People Act voter reform proposal, cosponsored by Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Georgia, failed to pass in a 50-50 party-line vote in June.  

That bill aimed to provide greater voter access through online voter registration, online voting, same day registration and voting, automatic registration when applying to state agencies like DMV, require election officials to complete cross-check purges at least six months prior to a given election; the bill also would establish independent redistricting commissions and add stipulations to campaign financing.  

“We can pass legislation that would create uniform national standards so that your right to vote cannot be challenged,” Warnock said during a July 19 U.S. Senate Rules Committee hearing. “We can protect the freedom of voters to decide how they want to vote, whether it’s on election, day during early voting or by mail. And we can strengthen election security by providing new funding for states to replace old voting machines and enhanced training for election administrators.”

Democrat lawmakers across the country have continued to push for Congress to enact new federal voting laws following voting law changes approved this year in some Republican states, like SB 202 in Georgia, following the unsuccessful reelection of former President Donald Trump, a Republican.  

“This new law (SB 202) also allows partisan officials in the state legislature to control our state board of elections and take over local elections and it allows them to engage in these takeovers, even while the votes are still being cast. This is a recipe not only for voter suppression, but for chaos in our democracy, Warnock said, during a July 19 U.S. Senate Rules Committee hearing.

Georgia State Rep. Dexter Sharper, D-Valdosta, was one of several state Democrat lawmakers who rallied at the Capitol this week to encourage Congress to pass some form of voting reform legislation.  

“We had about 20 or more state reps from Georgia that were able to come up and show our support for getting the best voting rights bill possible,” Sharper said. “The changes that were recently made with the Georgia laws, we can overcome them. It’s just going to take more time, more dedication, more commitment.”

“We are going to try to rally with our people in Georgia to work towards if something [isn’t approved in Congress] very different to what we already have, to go ahead and get in place to give everything a trial run in the municipal elections that are coming up this year,” he said.  

Other voting reform bills circulating in the U.S. Senate by Georgia lawmakers include Sen. Jon Ossoff’s new Right to Vote Act of 2021, which he says will provide protections for the people’s right to vote via the court systems.  

 “The Right to Vote Act of 2021 would establish for the first time an affirmative right to vote for us citizens in federal statute, and it would empower citizens to challenge in court provisions passed by the states that restrict ballot access, empowering citizens to force states, like the state of Georgia, to prove why such restrictions are necessary, what legitimate ends they serve, and that such restrictions are the least restrictive way of achieving those ends,” Ossoff said in a press announcement.  

Warnock’s S.2155 Preventing Election Subversion Act of 2021 was introduced June 21 to provide increased protections for election workers and voters in elections for federal office, a contrast to a proponent of Georgia’s new voting law gives the state election board authority take over county election offices and to remove and replace local election officials. 

Warnock’s proposal stipulates that a statewide election administrator may only suspend, remove or relieve the duties of a local election administrator in the state with respect to the administration of an election for federal office for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office; the U.S. would also have the right to intervene in the judicial proceeding involving “any administrative or judicial proceeding brought to suspend, remove or relieve the duties of any local election administrator by a statewide election administrator with respect to the administration of an election for federal office.”

In a July 28 statement on the U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit challenging Georgia’s new election laws, Gov. Brian Kemp asserted that Georgia has a constitutional authority to regulate the time, place and manner of its local elections offices.  

“SB 202 provisions like requiring voter ID on absentee ballots, securing drop boxes around the clock and expanding weekend voting opportunities are commonsense reforms that ensure Georgia elections are secure, accessible, and fair,” Kemp said.