June 9, 2014
The Hon. Eric Cantor (Virginia), House Majority Leader
303 Cannon Building
Washington, DC 20515
RE: Request to meet concerning HB-3899, Voting Rights Amendment Act
Dear Leader Cantor:
Over the past several months we have observed an alarming ambiguity in your position on HB 3899. This bill will fundamentally and intentionally change American elections into race-reliant battlefields where, for the first time in our history, the United States, as a legal matter, would EXCLUDE a majority of Americans as a class from the full protection of the law – based solely on the color of their skin. As House Majority Leader you alone have the authority to bring this bill to a vote. Therefore, your continued ambiguity on a bill that is so clearly and deeply flawed is troubling to say the least. On behalf of our organizations, and of the millions we collectively represent, we are compelled to reach out to you directly and ask for a meeting to address the issue and your intentions. HB 3899 was written in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 ruling to strike down an obsolete part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that singled out certain states and local jurisdictions for federal oversight based on 50-year old data, including Virginia. Having long outlived its intended utility, this portion of the Act had in recent years become an easy mark for exploitation by partisan interests. It had also served as a transparent excuse for federal officials to block common-sense election safeguards enacted by the states, such as photo voter ID. The proposed bill as written would grant even greater authority over common-sense election safeguards to Attorney General Eric Holder than was provided under the original Act. It is important to note that the Supreme Court left the rest of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and its protections against intentional voter discrimination intact, and in so doing reaffirmed that a citizen’s vote is a civil right guaranteed to
ALL
Americans. People interested in fair and honest elections - the indispensable requirement for a free people – were relieved when the Court’s sensible ruling was announced. That is, until HR 3899 was introduced. This bill would not only send the nation backward, it would give Attorney General Eric Holder and this Administration a clear pathway to impose unprecedented federal oversight for any and all election law changes nationwide, not just in certain states as provided under the single section of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that the Supreme Court struck down. Here are just a few of HB 3899’s regressive requirements:
•Forces racial gerrymandering, making race the predominant factor in elections and advancing the partisan interests of one political party
•Offers only a vague definition of "voting rights violations” that are needed to trigger federal control of elections in a jurisdiction, and even allows objections made by the Attorney General himself to count as a violation and triggering event. Thus, Eric Holder can, in effect, use his own findings of disparate impact versus actual instances of discrimination, as he did with South Carolina’s voter ID law until it was reversed, in order to justify placing a state under DOJ’s
pre-clearance
control.
•Requires
that
States be placed under DOJ’s
pre-clearance
requirements whenever DOJ
determines that five “voting rights violations” occurred during a 15-year period, even if a state is itself only cited for a single violation. This will impact states other than the nine originally covered under the 1965 Act, including your home state. Clearly, the original nine states will immediately be put under DOJ’s pre-clearance regime upon bill signing, but many more states will assuredly follow after myriad groups launch deliberate litigation campaigns to establish the minimal number of “voting rights violations” needed to trigger DOJ oversight.
•Expands dramatically
the Attorney General’s power to challenge “any act prohibited by the 14th or 15th amendment” of the U.S. constitution. Eric Holder – the most partisan and ethically challenged Attorney General in U.S. history – cannot be given this kind of power. It would have allowed Attorney General Janet Reno to intervene in (or bring) the
Bush v. Gore
case. The possibilities for mischief are limitless.
•Codifies racial discrimination INTO the law, protecting only certain categories of citizens, not all Americans, because it specifically and explicitly excludes “non-minorities” from the full protection of the Voting Rights Act under some parts of the bill – despite convictions and other documented Voting Rights Act violations by minorities, as well as non-minorities, across the country.
Leader Cantor, given the wide range of issues you deal with on a daily basis, we understand you may not have had time to fully analyze HR 3899. We will be glad to share our organizations’ analyses, to discuss our concerns, and most importantly, to work together to protect the hard won civil rights of all Americans by stopping this destructive, discriminatory piece of legislation from advancing any further than it
already
has.
We
will contact your staff early this week in an effort to coordinate a convenient meeting time in your Washington, D.C. office. Sincerely, Gregg Phillips
Hon. Ken Blackwell
Gen. Ed Meese
VotersTrust
SOSforSOS Super PAC
American Civil Rights Union
Catherine Engelbrecht
Christian Adams
Anita MonCrief
True the Vote
Election Law Center
Black Conservatives Fund
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