IV 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 700 
Expressing support for the designation of September 2021 as ‘‘National 
Voting Rights Month’’. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 
Mr. VEASEY (for himself, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mrs. BEATTY, and 
Mr. SUOZZI) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on House 
Administration, Intelligence (Permanent Select), Oversight and Reform, 
Science, Space, and Technology, Education and Labor, Ways and Means, 
Financial Services, Ethics, Homeland Security, and Armed Services, for 
a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing support for the designation of September 2021 
as ‘‘National Voting Rights Month’’. 
Whereas voting is one 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-
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 
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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 individ-
uals to vote; 
Whereas 5,200,000 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; 
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, dismantling the preclearance formula provi-
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sion in that Act that protected voters in States and local-
ities that historically have suppressed the right of minori-
ties to vote; 
Whereas, since the invalidation of the preclearance formula 
provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, gerry-
mandered districts in many States have gone unchal-
lenged and have become less likely to be invalidated by 
the courts; 
Whereas these gerrymandered districts have been found to 
have 
discriminatory 
impacts 
on 
traditionally 
disenfranchised minorities through tactics that include 
‘‘cracking’’, diluting the voting power of minorities across 
many districts, and ‘‘packing’’ or concentrating minority 
voters’ power in one 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, and Wis-
consin to be gerrymandered districts that were created to 
favor some groups over others; 
Whereas the decision of the Supreme Court in Shelby County 
v. Holder, 570 U.S. 529 (2013), calls on Congress to up-
date the formula in the Voting Rights Act of 1965; 
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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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 voters’ rights and overturned by the courts; 
Whereas the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (referred to in this 
preamble as ‘‘COVID–19’’) public health emergency has 
only exacerbated the state of elections and the difficulties 
voters face in obtaining access to the ballot; 
Whereas a lack of fair and safe election policies threatens mi-
nority communities, which have been disproportionately 
impacted and disenfranchised due to the COVID–19 pan-
demic, and their access to the ballot; 
Whereas addressing the challenges of administering future 
elections requires increasing the accessibility of vote-by- 
mail and other limited-contact options to ensure the pro-
tection of voters’ health and safety amid a global pan-
demic; 
Whereas, as voting by mail becomes a safer and more acces-
sible option for voters to exercise their constitutional 
right to vote during the unprecedented times caused by 
the COVID–19 pandemic, the work of the United States 
Postal Service will be of paramount importance in suc-
cessfully conducting elections; 
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-
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registration, limit the power of restrictive voter 
identification laws, make critical investments in 
election infrastructure and technology, and ad-
dress corruption in campaign finance and eth-
ics; 
(B) the Freedom to Vote Act (S. 2747 of 
the 117th 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 com-
monsense election integrity reforms, and protect 
the democracy of the United States from relent-
less attacks; 
(C) the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Ad-
vancement Act of 2021 (H.R. 4 of the 117th 
Congress), to restore the protections of the Vot-
ing Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10301 et 
seq.) that prohibit discriminatory voting prac-
tices, remove barriers to voting, and provide 
protections for minority voters in States with a 
history of voting discrimination; 
(D) the Democracy Restoration Act (S. 
481 of the 117th Congress), to restore Federal 
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voting rights to citizens after release from im-
prisonment, honoring the responsibilities of citi-
zenship and civic engagement necessary for 
building healthy and safe communities, while 
welcoming the contributions of people returning 
home after imprisonment; and 
(E) 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; and 
(C) current measures that have been taken 
to restrict the vote; 
(5) encourages the United States Postal Service 
to issue a special John R. Lewis stamp during the 
month of September— 
(A) to honor the life and legacy of John R. 
Lewis in supporting voting rights; and 
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(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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