IV 
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 846 
Calling on Congress to enact a new preclearance formula for the Voting 
Rights Act and condemning voter suppression laws enacted by States 
and political subdivisions. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 6, 2016 
Ms. NORTON submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary 
RESOLUTION 
Calling on Congress to enact a new preclearance formula 
for the Voting Rights Act and condemning voter suppres-
sion laws enacted by States and political subdivisions. 
Whereas the ratification of the 15th Amendment in 1870 af-
firms that voting rights cannot be denied to citizens on 
the basis of race; 
Whereas post-Reconstruction Jim Crow laws severely re-
stricted minorities’ voting rights, particularly those of Af-
rican-Americans; 
Whereas the Voting Rights Act of 1965 contributed to a sig-
nificant increase in voter registration and participation 
by African-Americans and other minorities; 
Whereas the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Shelby Coun-
ty v. Holder struck down section 4(b) of the Voting 
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•HRES 846 IH 
Rights Act, the coverage provision of the law that identi-
fied States and political subdivisions with a chronic his-
tory of passing restrictive voting laws; 
Whereas the Shelby County decision effectively immobilized 
section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which allowed 
the Department of Justice and Federal courts to 
‘‘preclear’’ any proposed changes to voting rules, allowing 
a preemptive strike of unjust and discriminatory voting 
laws in the regions identified by section 4(b); 
Whereas the absence of this preclearance requirement has al-
lowed for voter suppression laws to proliferate by permit-
ting States and political subdivisions to pass restrictive 
voting laws without Federal preclearance determining if 
the laws are racially discriminatory; 
Whereas 15 States will implement new voting restrictions 
such as burdensome government-issued photo identifica-
tion requirements and reduced early voting hours for the 
2016 general election for the first time; 
Whereas more than 21 million Americans lack government- 
issued photo identification and a disproportionate number 
of those Americans are low-income, elderly, or people of 
color; 
Whereas African-Americans are between 108 percent and 305 
percent, and Latinos are between 58 percent and 195 
percent, more likely than Whites to lack acceptable iden-
tification required to vote; 
Whereas 10,800 eligible Latino voters in Alabama, 4,700 eli-
gible Latino voters in Mississippi, 45,600 eligible Latino 
voters in Virginia, and many eligible Latino voters else-
where will find it more difficult to vote in 2016 than in 
2012 due to voter identification laws; 
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•HRES 846 IH 
Whereas since the Shelby County decision, four States (Ne-
braska, North Carolina, Ohio, and Wisconsin) have re-
duced early voting access; 
Whereas restricting early voting disproportionately affects 
low-income citizens, people of color, and the elderly, who 
often rely on flexible, early voting periods; 
Whereas since the Shelby County decision, four States (Ala-
bama, Georgia, Kansas, and Tennessee) have passed laws 
requiring voters to provide proof of citizenship to vote; 
Whereas many voting-eligible, low-income Latino voters are 
naturalized United States citizens who lack proof of citi-
zenship and cannot afford a Certificate of Citizenship or 
a Replacement Certificate of Naturalization, which cost 
$600 and $345, respectively; 
Whereas since the Shelby County decision, two States (Vir-
ginia and Wisconsin) have imposed more stringent re-
quirements on nongovernmental organizations that help 
to register and engage citizens in voter participation; 
Whereas restricting nongovernmental voter participation or-
ganizations directly affects low-income citizens, people of 
color, and the elderly, as these organizations are particu-
larly likely to reach and engage these populations; 
Whereas since the Shelby County decision, five States (Ari-
zona, Arkansas, New Jersey, Texas, and Utah) have 
passed laws making it more difficult to vote by absentee 
ballot; 
Whereas reducing absentee voting disproportionately affects 
low-income minority voters, who are more likely than 
other citizens to have inflexible work- and childcare-re-
lated schedules; 
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•HRES 846 IH 
Whereas since the Shelby County decision, three States 
(Florida, Iowa, and South Dakota) have maintained voter 
laws denying returning citizens or former felons the right 
to vote; 
Whereas in addition to State-level voter suppression laws, po-
litical subdivisions have also passed new laws that sup-
press minority voters, including reducing the number of 
polling places and offering insufficient language-assist-
ance for non-English-speaking voters; 
Whereas reducing the number of polling places disproportion-
ately affects minority communities; for example, in Mari-
copa County, Arizona, a county that is 30-percent 
Latino, election officials reduced the number of polling 
places to one polling place for every 21,000 voters, com-
pared to one polling place for every 2,500 voters in the 
rest of the State for the 2016 primary; 
Whereas insufficient language assistance at polling places 
could possibly threaten eligible Latino voters in the 2016 
election, as local jurisdictions in Florida and Texas have 
limited language-assistance programs; 
Whereas in the last month, courts have struck down restric-
tive voting laws in four States (Texas, North Carolina, 
Wisconsin, and Ohio), demonstrating the discriminatory 
nature of voting restrictions that have proliferated post- 
Shelby County; 
Whereas had a preclearance formula been in effect, the De-
partment of Justice and Federal courts would have been 
able to prevent discriminatory voter suppression laws 
from being passed; and 
Whereas many unjust voter laws that were passed or went 
into effect after the Shelby County decision threaten to 
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•HRES 846 IH 
affect a significant number of minority voters on election 
day, November 8, 2016: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) calls on Congress to enact a new 
preclearance formula for the Voting Rights Act of 
1965, based on the Voting Rights Amendment Act 
(H.R. 3899, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress) and 
the Voting Rights Advancement Act (H.R. 2876, 
One Hundred Fourteenth Congress); and 
(2) condemns the use by States and political 
subdivisions of the voter suppression laws and tech-
niques described in the preamble of this resolution. 
Æ 
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