Jim Sensenbrenner: “the provisions of the Voting Rights Act that prevent covered jurisdictions from enacting discriminatory voting changes…”

“the provisions of the Voting Rights Act that prevent covered jurisdictions from enacting discriminatory voting changes and allow Federal observers to monitor elections in covered jurisdictions are crucial provisions that are protected and should continue to protect minority voters. Further, covered jurisdictions can cost effectively remove themselves from coverage under the Voting Rights Act, as 11 counties in Virginia have done, if they can show a clean record on voting rights for 10 years. However, this amendment would turn the Voting Rights Act on its head by requiring the Voting Section of the Department of Justice to conduct an annual, once a year, review of nearly 900 jurisdictions, and thus, drain all of its resources away from preventing voting discrimination. The amendment would require travel to nearly 900 jurisdictions every year for the review of voluminous records, the interviewing of thousands of people to determine whether all the jurisdictions' voting changes have been submitted for preclearance, as required by the Voting Rights Act, and that all other bailout criteria have been met. This would require not just a review of all the materials that covered jurisdictions may have submitted to the Department of Justice, but also a review of all the materials a covered jurisdiction may not have submitted to the DOJ.…”