“Let Us Continue” … to Protect Voting Rights
December 12, 2011
Thank you, Mark [Updegrove]. It is a pleasure to be with youโand to join so many friends, colleagues, and critical partners in welcoming some of our nationโs most dedicated and effective civil rights championsโas well as the many University of Texas law students who are here, and who will lead this work into the future.
Iโd also like to thank Mark and his staff, as well as the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museumโs board members and community of supporters, for providing a forum for todayโs conversationโand for all that you do, not only to honor the life and legacy of our 36th Commander-in-Chief, but also to build upon his historic efforts to ensure the strength, integrity, and future of our democracy.
Nearly half a century has passed since a national tragedy catapulted Lyndon Johnson to the Presidency, and at the same time launched a new chapter in Americaโs story. Those of us who lived through those painful days will never forget LBJโs first Presidential speechโto a nation in mourning, and in desperate need of strong and steady leadership. After quoting the 1961 inaugural address in which President Kennedy famously declared, โLet us begin,โ President Johnson outlined the unfinished business of the civil rights agenda. Thenโwith three simple wordsโhe gave voice to the goals of his Presidency, and issued a challenge that has echoed through the ages: โLet us continue.โ
In fulfilling this directive, President Johnsonโand the many leaders, activists, and ordinary citizens who shared his vision and determinationโset our country on a course toward remarkable, once-unimaginable, progress. Together, they opened new doors of opportunity, helping to ensure equal access to schools and public spaces, to restaurants and workplaces, andโperhaps most important of allโto the ballot box. Our great nation was transformed.
In 1965, when President Johnson signed the landmark Voting Rights Act into law, he proclaimed that, โthe right to vote is the basic right, without which all others are meaningless.โ
Today, as Attorney General, I have the privilegeโand the solemn dutyโof enforcing this law, and the other civil rights reforms that President Johnson championed. This work is among the Justice Departmentโs most important priorities. And our efforts honor the generations of Americans who have taken extraordinary risks, and willingly confronted hatred, bias, and ignoranceโas well as billy clubs and fire hoses, bullets and bombsโto ensure that their children, and all American citizens, would have the chance to participate in the work of their government. The right to vote is not only the cornerstone of our system of governmentโit is the lifeblood of our democracy. And no force has proved more powerfulโor more integral to the success of the great American experimentโthan efforts to expand the franchise.
Despite this history, and despite our nationโs long tradition of extending voting rightsโto non-property owners and women, to people of color and Native Americans, and to younger Americansโtoday, a growing number of our fellow citizens are worried about the same disparities, divisions, and problems thatโnearly five decades agoโLBJ devoted his Presidency to addressing. In my travels across this country, Iโve heard a consistent drumbeat of concern from many Americans, whoโoften for the first time in their livesโnow have reason to believe that we are failing to live up to one of our nationโs most noble, and essential, ideals.
As Congressman John Lewis described it, in a speech on the House floor this summer, the voting rights that he worked throughout his lifeโand nearly gave his lifeโto ensure are, โunder attackโฆ [by] a deliberate and systematic attempt to prevent millions of elderly voters, young voters, students, [and] minority and low-income voters from exercising their constitutional right to engage in the democratic process.โ Not only was he referring to the all-too-common deceptive practices weโve been fighting for years. He was echoing more recent concerns about some of the state-level voting law changes weโve seen this legislative season.
Since January, more than a dozen states have advanced new voting measures. Some of these new laws are currently under review by the Justice Department, based on our obligations under the Voting Rights Act. Texas and South Carolina, for example, have enacted laws establishing new photo identification requirements that weโre reviewing. Weโre also examining a number of changes that Florida has made to its electoral process, including changes to the procedures governing third-party voter registration organizations, as well as changes to early voting procedures, including the number of days in the early voting period.
Although I cannot go into detail about the ongoing review of these and other state-law changes, I can assure you that it will be thoroughโand fair. We will examine the facts, and we will apply the law. If a state passes a new voting law and meets its burden of showing that the law is not discriminatory, we will follow the law and approve the change. And where a state canโt meet this burden, we will object as part of our obligation under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.
As many of you knowโand as I hope the law students here are learningโSection 5 was put in place decades ago because of a well-documented history of voter discrimination in all or parts of the 16 states to which it applies. Within these โcovered jurisdictions,โ any proposed change in voting procedures or practicesโfrom moving a polling location to enacting a statewide redistricting planโmust be โpreclearedโโthat is, approvedโeither by the Justice Department, or by a panel of federal judges.
Without question, Sections 5โs preclearance process has been a powerful tool in combating discrimination for decades. In 2006, it was reauthorized with overwhelming bipartisan supportโpassing the House by a vote of 390 to 33, and the Senate by a vote of 98 to zeroโbefore being signed into law by President Bush.
Despite the long history of support for Section 5, this keystone of our voting rights laws is now being challenged five years after its reauthorization as unconstitutional in no fewer than five lawsuits. Each of these lawsuits claims that weโve attained a new era of electoral equality, that America in 2011 has moved beyond the challenges of 1965, and that Section 5 is no longer necessary.
I wish this were the case. The reality is thatโin jurisdictions across the countryโboth overt and subtle forms of discrimination remain all too common. And we donโt have to look far to see recent proof.
For example, in October, the Justice Department objected to a redistricting plan in East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, where the map-drawer began the process by meeting exclusively with white officeholdersโand never consulted black officeholders. The result was a map that diminished the electoral opportunity of African Americans. After the Justice Department objected, the Parish enacted a new, non-discriminatory map.
And, here in Texas, just two months ago, the Department argued in court filings that proposed redistricting plans for both the State House and the Texas Congressional delegation are impermissible, because the state has failed to show the absence of discrimination. The most recent Census data indicated that Texas has gained more than 4 million new residentsโthe vast majority of whom are Hispanicโand that this growth allows for four new Congressional seats. However, this State has proposed adding zero additional seats in which Hispanics would have the electoral opportunity envisioned by the Voting Rights Act. Federal courts are still considering this matter, and we intend to argue vigorously at trial that this is precisely the kind of discrimination that Section 5 was intended to block.
To those who argue that Section 5 is no longer necessaryโthese and other examples are proof that we still need this critical tool to combat discrimination and safeguard the right to vote.
As concerns about the protection of this right and the integrity of our election systems become an increasingly prominent part of our national dialogueโwe must consider some important questions. It is time to ask: what kind of nationโand what kind of peopleโdo we want to be? Are we willing to allow this eraโour eraโto be remembered as the age when our nationโs proud tradition of expanding the franchise ended? Are we willing to allow this timeโour timeโto be recorded in history as the age when the long-held belief that, in this country, every citizen has the chanceโand the rightโto help shape their government, became a relic of our past, instead of a guidepost for our future?
For meโand for our nationโs Department of Justiceโthe answers are clear. We need election systems that are free from fraud, discrimination, and partisan influenceโand that are more, not less, accessible to the citizens of this country.
Under this Administration, our Civil Rights Divisionโand its Voting Sectionโhave taken meaningful steps to ensure integrity, independence, and transparency in our enforcement of the Voting Rights Act. We have worked successfully and comprehensively to protect the voting rights of U.S. service members and veterans, and to enforce other laws that protect Americans living abroad, citizens with disabilities, and language minorities. As part of our aggressive enforcement of the โMotor Voterโ law, this year alone, we filed two statewide lawsuits to enforce the requirement that voter registration opportunities be made available at a wider variety of government officesโbeyond just the local department of motor vehicles. And weโre seeing promising results from this work. For example, after filing a lawsuit in Rhode Island, we reached an agreement with state agencies that resulted in more voters being registered in the first full month after our lawsuit than in the entire previous two-year reporting period.
Weโre also working to ensure that the protections for language minorities included in the Voting Rights Act are aggressively enforced. These protections now apply to more than 19 million voting-age citizens. These are our Spanish-speaking friends and neighbors, our Chinese-speaking friends and neighbors, and a large and growing part of all our communities. In just the past year, weโve filed three lawsuits to protect their rights. And, today, weโre actively reviewing nationwide compliance.
But the Justice Department canโt do it all. Ensuring that every veteran, every senior, every college student, and every eligible citizen has the right to vote must become our common cause. And, for all Americans, protecting this right, ensuring meaningful access, and combating discrimination must be viewed, not only as a legal issueโbut as a moral imperative.
Just as we recently saw in Maineโwhere voters last month overturned a legislative proposal to end same-day voter registrationโthe ability to shape our laws remains in the hands of the American people.
Tonight, Iโd like to highlight three areas where public support will be crucial in driving progressโand advancing much-needed reforms. The first involves deceptive election practicesโand dishonest efforts to prevent certain voters from casting their ballots.
Over the years, weโve seen all sorts of attempts to gain partisan advantage by keeping people away from the pollsโfrom literacy tests and poll taxes, to misinformation campaigns telling people that Election Day has been moved, or that only one adult per household can cast a ballot. Before the 2004 elections, fliers were distributed in minority neighborhoods in Milwaukee, falsely claiming that โ[I]f anybody in your family has ever been found guilty [of a crime], you canโt vote in the presidential electionโโand you risk a 10-year prison sentence if you do. Two years later, 14,000 Latino voters in Orange County, California, received mailings, warning in Spanish that, โ[If] you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that can result in jail time.โ Both of these blatant falsehoods likely deterred some eligible citizens from going to the polls.
And, just last week, the campaign manager of a Maryland gubernatorial candidate was convicted on election fraud charges for approving anonymous โrobocallsโ that went out on Election Day last year to more than 100,000 voters in the stateโs two largest majority-black jurisdictions. These calls encouraged voters to stay homeโtelling them to โrelaxโ because their preferred candidate had already wrapped up a victory.
In an effort to deter and punish such harmful practices, during his first year in the U.S. Senate, President Obama introduced legislation that would establish tough criminal penalties for those who engage in fraudulent voting practicesโand would help to ensure that citizens have complete and accurate information about where and when to vote. Unfortunately, this proposal did not move forward. But Iโm pleased to announce thatโtomorrowโSenators Charles Schumer and Ben Cardin will re-introduce this legislation, in an even stronger form. I applaud their leadershipโand I look forward to working with them as Congress considers this important legislation.
The second area for reform is the need for neutrality in redistricting efforts. Districts should be drawn to promote fair and effective representation for allโnot merely to undercut electoral competition and protect incumbents. If we allow only those who hold elected office to select their constituentsโinstead of enabling voters to choose their representativesโthe strength and legitimacy of our democracy will suffer.
One final area for reform that merits our strongest support is the growing effortโwhich is already underway in several statesโto modernize voter registration. Today, the single biggest barrier to voting in this country is our antiquated registration system. According to the Census Bureau, of the 75 million adult citizens who failed to vote in the last presidential election, 60 million of them were not registered and, therefore, not eligible to cast a ballot.
All eligible citizens can and should be automatically registered to vote. The ability to vote is a rightโit is not a privilege. Under our current system, many voters must follow cumbersome and needlessly complex voter registration rules. And every election season, state and local officials have to manually process a crush of new applicationsโmost of them handwrittenโleaving the system riddled with errors, and, too often, creating chaos at the polls.
Fortunately, modern technology provides a straightforward fix for these problemsโif we have the political will to bring our election systems into the 21st century. It should be the governmentโs responsibility to automatically register citizens to vote, by compilingโfrom databases that already existโa list of all eligible residents in each jurisdiction. Of course, these lists would be used solely to administer electionsโand would protect essential privacy rights.
We must also address the fact that although one in nine Americans move every year, their voter registration often does not move with them. Many would-be voters donโt realize this until theyโve missed the deadline for registering, which can fall a full month before Election Day. Election officials should work together to establish a program of permanent, portable registrationโso that voters who move can vote at their new polling place on Election Day. Until that happens, we should implement fail-safe procedures to correct voter-roll errors and omissions, by allowing every voter to cast a regular, non-provisional ballot on Election Day. Several states have already taken this step, and itโs been shown to increase turnout by at least three to five percentage points.
These modernization efforts would not only improve the integrity of our elections, they would also save precious taxpayer dollars.
Despite these benefits, there will always be those who say that easing registration hurdles will only lead to voter fraud. Let me be clear: voter fraud is not acceptableโand will not be tolerated by this Justice Department. But as I learned early in my careerโas a prosecutor in the Justice Departmentโs Public Integrity Section, where I actually investigated and prosecuted voting-fraud casesโmaking voter registration easier is simply not likely, by itself, to make our elections more susceptible to fraud. Indeed, those on all sides of this debate have acknowledged that in-person voting fraud is uncommon. We must be honest about this. And we must recognize that our ability to ensure the strength and integrity of our election systemsโand to advance the reforms necessary to achieve thisโdepends on whether the American people are informed, engaged, and willing to demand commonsense solutions that make voting more accessible. Politicians may not readily alter the very systems under which they were elected. Only we, the people, can bring about meaningful change.
So speak out. Raise awareness about whatโs at stake. Call on our political parties to resist the temptation to suppress certain votes in the hope of attaining electoral success and, instead, encourage and work with the parties to achieve this success by appealing to more voters. And urge policymakers at every level to reevaluate our election systemsโand to reform them in ways that encourage, not limit, participation.Today, we cannotโand must notโtake the right to vote for granted. Nor can we shirk the sacred responsibility that falls upon our shoulders.
Throughout his Presidency, Lyndon Johnson frequently pointed out that, โAmerica was the first nation in the history of the world to be founded with a purposeโto right wrong, [and] to do justice.โ Over the last two centuries, the fulfillment of this purpose has taken many formsโacts of protest and compassion, declarations of war and peace, and a range of efforts to make certain that, as another great President said, โgovernment ofโฆbyโฆ[and] for the people shall not perish from the Earth.โToday, there are competing visions about how our government should move forward. Thatโs what the democratic process is all aboutโcreating space for thoughtful debate, creating opportunity for citizens to voice their opinions, and ultimately letting the people chart their course. Our nation has worked, and even fought, to help people around the world establish such a processโmost recently during the wave of civil rights uprisings known as the Arab Spring. Here at home, honoring our democracy demands that we remove any and all barriers to votingโa goal that all American citizens of all political backgrounds must share.
Despite so many decades of struggle, sacrifice, and achievementโwe must remain ever vigilant in safeguarding our most basic and important right. Too many recent actions have the potential to reverse the progress that defines usโand has made this nation exceptional, as well as an example for all the world. We must be true to the arc of Americaโs history, which compels us to be more inclusive with regard to the franchise. And we must never forget the purpose thatโmore than two centuries agoโinspired our nationโs founding, and now must guide us forward.
So, let us actโwith optimism and without delay. Let us rise to the challengesโand overcome the divisionsโof our time. Let us signal to the world thatโin America todayโthe pursuit of a more perfect union lives on.
And, in the spirit of Lyndon Baines Johnson, let us continue.