Lucille Roybal-Allard: “This November, voters across our country are faced with the likely prospect of heading to the polls without the full…”

“This November, voters across our country are faced with the likely prospect of heading to the polls without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act. Signed into law in 1965 by President Lyndon Johnson, the Voting Rights Act broke down state and local laws that kept minorities from exercising their constitutional right to vote. That fundamental right of our democracy was severely undermined by the 2013 Supreme Court decision in Shelby County vs. Holder. That misguided decision gutted Section 5, the heart of the Voting Rights Act, which barred states and localities with a history of discriminatory policies from implementing new voting changes without the approval of the Department of Justice. Based on the Supreme Court ruling, states are now free to pass and enforce laws that create obstacles to voting. That is exactly what many states are doing: in fact in the 2014 mid- term election and in this year's presidential primaries numerous voters were denied the ability to participate in our democratic process. A report from the NALEO Educational Fund, estimates these restrictive voting changes, could result in more than 875,000 eligible Latinos finding it more difficult to vote this year than in 2012. In other words, without the protections of The Voting Rights Act this presidential election will be the first in over 50 years in which American voters of color will be faced with new and renewed obstacles to voting.…”