But Sewell and her colleagues are playing a long game in the hope that Democrats, should theyregain control of the White House and both chambers of Congress as they did most recently in 2008, would then be able to drive HR4 into law. In anticipation of that day, and in expectation that it would then be rigorously opposed by Republicans through the courts, she is working with peers on the judiciary and house administration committees to create a record of voter suppression in culprit states.
“We have to develop a public record that is strong enough to withstand litigation and challenge,” she said.
Under the terms of the bill, some 11 states have been identified as meriting a return to federal oversight of any electoral changes they want to make. Under the modernized formula proposed in the legislation, any state that has had 15 or more violations over the past 25 years – whether by restricting early voting hours, introducing ID-card barriers, making it harder for voters to register, carrying out inaccurate purges of voting lists, or a slew of other trickery – would find themselves back under the beady eye of the US justice department for 10 years.
The 11 states are: Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia.