IV 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 703 
Supporting the designation of September 2023 as ‘‘National Voting Rights 
Month’’. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 19, 2023 
Mr. VEASEY (for himself, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. JOHNSON of Geor-
gia, Ms. MENG, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. EVANS, Ms. NORTON, Ms. 
BARRAGA´N, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. COSTA, Mr. 
DAVID SCOTT of Georgia, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. 
CA´RDENAS, Ms. SEWELL, Ms. STEVENS, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, Mr. 
CARTER of Louisiana, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. TONKO, Mr. 
KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. PLASKETT, Mr. TAKANO, Ms. 
WILSON of Florida, Mr. KIM of New Jersey, Mr. SARBANES, Ms. LEE 
of California, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. CARSON, Ms. BROWN, Mr. 
GREEN of Texas, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, and Mr. SCOTT 
of Virginia) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on House 
Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speak-
er, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the ju-
risdiction of the committee concerned 
RESOLUTION 
Supporting the designation of September 2023 as ‘‘National 
Voting Rights Month’’. 
Whereas voting is 1 of the single most important rights that 
can be exercised in a democracy; 
Whereas, over the course of history, various voter suppression 
laws in the United States have hindered, and even pro-
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•HRES 703 IH 
hibited, certain individuals and groups from exercising 
the right to vote; 
Whereas, during the 19th and early 20th centuries, Native 
Americans and people who were born to United States 
citizens abroad, people who spoke a language other than 
English, and people who were formerly subjected to slav-
ery were denied full citizenship and prevented from vot-
ing by English literacy tests; 
Whereas, since the 1870s, minority groups such as Black 
Americans in the South have suffered from the oppres-
sive effects of Jim Crow laws that were designed to pre-
vent political, economic, and social mobility; 
Whereas Black Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native 
Americans, and other underrepresented voters were sub-
ject to violence, poll taxes, literacy tests, all-White pri-
maries, property ownership tests, and grandfather clauses 
that were designed to suppress the right of those under-
represented individuals to vote; 
Whereas 5,800,000 people in the United States are currently 
banned from voting because of a felony conviction, in-
cluding 1 in 16 Black adults, due to the shameful entan-
glement of racial injustice in the criminal legal system 
and voting access in the United States; 
Whereas members of the aforementioned groups and others 
are currently, in some cases, subject to intimidation, 
voter roll purges, and financial barriers that act effec-
tively as modern-day poll taxes; 
Whereas, in 1965, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 
1965 (52 U.S.C. 10301 et seq.) to protect the right of 
Black Americans and other traditionally disenfranchised 
groups to vote, among other reasons; 
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•HRES 703 IH 
Whereas, in 2013, in the landmark case of Shelby County v. 
Holder, 570 U.S. 529 (2013), the Supreme Court of the 
United States invalidated section 4 of the Voting Rights 
Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10303), dismantling the 
preclearance formula provision in that Act that protected 
voters in States and localities that historically have sup-
pressed the right of minorities to vote; 
Whereas, since the invalidation of the preclearance formula 
provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 
10301 et seq.), gerrymandered districts in many States 
have gone unchallenged and have become less likely to be 
invalidated by the courts; 
Whereas gerrymandered districts in many States have been 
found to have a discriminatory impact on traditionally 
disenfranchised minorities through tactics that include 
‘‘cracking’’, diluting the voting power of minorities across 
many districts, and ‘‘packing’’, concentrating the power 
of minority voters into 1 district to reduce their voting 
power in other districts; 
Whereas the courts have found the congressional and, in 
some cases, State legislative district maps, in Texas, 
North Carolina, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, 
Alabama, and Louisiana to be gerrymandered districts 
that were created to favor some groups over others; 
Whereas these restrictive voting laws encompass cutbacks in 
early voting, voter roll purges, placement of faulty equip-
ment in minority communities, requirement of photo 
identification, and the elimination of same-day registra-
tion; 
Whereas these policies could outright disenfranchise or make 
voting much more difficult for more than 80,000,000 mi-
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•HRES 703 IH 
nority, elderly, poor, and disabled voters, among other 
groups; 
Whereas, in 2016, discriminatory laws in North Carolina, 
Wisconsin, North Dakota, and Texas were ruled to vio-
late the rights of voters and were overturned by the 
courts; 
Whereas the decision of the Supreme Court of the United 
States in Shelby County v. Holder, 570 U.S. 529 (2013), 
calls on Congress to update the formula in the Voting 
Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10301 et seq.); 
Whereas addressing the challenges of administering future 
elections requires increasing the accessibility of vote-by- 
mail and other limited-contact options to ensure access to 
the ballot and the protection of the health and safety of 
voters, and access to the ballot amid a global pandemic 
like the Coronavirus Disease 2019 public health emer-
gency; 
Whereas Congress must work to combat any attempts to dis-
mantle or underfund the United States Postal Service or 
obstruct the passage of the mail as blatant tactics of 
voter suppression and election interference; 
Whereas following the 2020 elections there has been a relent-
less attack on the right to vote with more than 400 bills 
having been introduced to roll back the right to vote, in-
cluding such bills being introduced in almost every State 
and at least 44 of such bills having been signed into law 
in 18 States; 
Whereas there is much more work to be done to ensure all 
citizens of the United States have the right to vote 
through free, fair, and accessible elections, and Congress 
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•HRES 703 IH 
must exercise its constitutional authority to protect the 
right to vote; 
Whereas National Voter Registration Day in 2023 is Tues-
day, September 19; and 
Whereas September 2023 would be an appropriate month— 
(1) to designate as ‘‘National Voting Rights Month’’; 
and 
(2) to ensure that, through the registration of voters 
and awareness of elections, the democracy of the United 
States includes all citizens of the United States: Now, 
therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) expresses support for the designation of 
‘‘National Voting Rights Month’’; 
(2) encourages all people in the United States 
to uphold the right of every citizen to exercise the 
sacred and fundamental right to vote; 
(3) encourages Congress to pass— 
(A) the Freedom to Vote Act (S. 1, 118th 
Congress), to set basic national standards to 
make sure all people in the United States can 
cast their ballots in the way that works best for 
them, regardless of what ZIP Code they live in, 
improve access to the ballot for people in the 
United States, advance commonsense election 
integrity reforms, and protect the democracy of 
the United States from relentless attacks; 
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•HRES 703 IH 
(B) the Democracy Restoration Act of 
2023 (S. 1677, 118th Congress), to restore 
Federal voting rights to citizens after release 
from imprisonment, honoring the responsibil-
ities of citizenship and civic engagement nec-
essary for building healthy and safe commu-
nities, while welcoming the contributions of peo-
ple returning home after imprisonment; and 
(C) other voting rights legislation that 
seeks to advance voting rights and protect elec-
tions in the United States; 
(4) recommends that public schools and univer-
sities in the United States develop an academic cur-
riculum that educates students about— 
(A) the importance of voting, how to reg-
ister to vote, where to vote, and the different 
forms of voting; 
(B) the history of voter suppression in the 
United States before and after passage of the 
Voting Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10301 et 
seq.); and 
(C) current measures that have been taken 
to restrict the vote; 
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•HRES 703 IH 
(5) expresses appreciation for the United States 
Postal Service having issued a special Representative 
John R. Lewis stamp— 
(A) to honor the life and legacy of Rep-
resentative John R. Lewis in supporting voting 
rights; and 
(B) to remind people in the United States 
that 
ordinary 
citizens 
risked 
their 
lives, 
marched, and participated in the great democ-
racy of the United States so that all citizens 
would have the fundamental right to vote; and 
(6) invites Congress to allocate the requisite 
funds for public service announcements on television, 
radio, newspapers, magazines, social media, bill-
boards, buses, and other forms of media— 
(A) to remind people in the United States 
when elections are being held; 
(B) to share important registration dead-
lines; and 
(C) to urge people to get out and vote. 
Æ 
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