Voting rights have been the highlight of American politics for the past year now, and the current gridlock in Congress is only making it worse. After the 2020 Presidential election, the Georgia state legislature passed a law which restricted voting rights, especially for minority groups. Some restrictions included limiting absentee voting, banning mobile voting centers, expanding early voting in smaller, Republican counties, but restricting early voting in more populated, Democratic counties, and the Republican controlled legislature gained full control over the state election board. Some believe the Republican-controlled state legislature passed these provisions in response to the Democrats picking up both of Georgia’s senate seats and President Biden narrowly winning the state in the 2020 election. 

After Georgia passed this law, 18 Republican-controlled state legislatures followed suit, passing similar laws and provisions to restrict voting rights. These laws caused controversy among both Democratic state legislatures and Congressional Democrats. Voting rights activists such as Stacey Abrams, who advocated for minority voters to get registered to vote for the 2020 Presidential Election, initiated a campaign with fellow voting rights activists to oppose these laws in these states and pressure Congress to act and pass legislation to lessen the effects of these laws. 

Currently, Congress has been debating a bill which would reinforce the provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, entitled the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was one of the most important pieces of legislation in American history, as it went along with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to ensure that minority rights were protected. President Biden has been a vocal supporter of action by Congress to help protect the voting rights of the people. At a rally in Atlanta this past Tuesday, President Biden stated, “I’ve been having these quiet conversations with members of Congress for the last two months, I’m tired of being quiet!”

Democrats in Congress are focused on the passing of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act as well as the Freedom to Vote Act, which would prevent state legislatures from using a tactic known as “partisan gerrymandering” to control where Congressional districts are drawn. Partisan gerrymandering is a tactic which has been used for centuries in America to sway the control of the House of Representatives to one way or the other, and is often unfair to the average voter as their vote may not be proportional if they are in a partisan gerrymandered district.

One major obstacle facing the Democratic majority in Congress is the filibuster rule in the Senate. Due to the rule where 60 Senators are required to vote aye on a motion to end debate, both bills are stuck in gridlock in Congress. Many activists and Democrats outside of Congress are supporting the idea of the Senate Democrats moving to end the filibuster and pass both bills with a simple majority instead of 60. However, Joe Manchin of West Virginia is the wild card in the Senate who has said that he will not vote to end the filibuster. 

So, we will see how this plays out in the future and if President Biden and other voting rights activists achieve their wishes of seeing these bills pass through Congress and combat these restrictive voting laws in these states.