Democrats push to regulate voting rules in 11 states under new Voting Rights Act

House Democrats on Tuesday introduced legislation to require 11 states and dozens of counties with recent histories of voter discrimination to receive approval from the federal government before making any changes to their election laws.

The Voting Rights Advancement Act is a move to repair the Voting Rights Act of 1965, part of which was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013. That decision outraged Democrats who said the court essentially gutted a key provision of the law that was meant to correct decades of discriminatory treatment of black voters.

The 11 states that are expected to be affected under the new VRAA are Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia. The new list is slightly shorter than the one had the bill become law last year when 13 states were predicted to be covered. The two states no longer covered under the new bill are Arizona and Arkansas.

More