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| 1 | HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is an important | ||||||
| 3 | piece of legislation that emerged
from the Civil Rights | ||||||
| 4 | Movement and was developed to ensure the fundamental right of | ||||||
| 5 | all
citizens to vote; and
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| 6 | WHEREAS, The Voting Rights Act was reauthorized by Congress | ||||||
| 7 | in 2006 by an overwhelmingly
bipartisan effort; and
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| 8 | WHEREAS, On June 25, 2013, in Shelby County, Alabama v. | ||||||
| 9 | Holder, the United States Supreme
Court eliminated a key | ||||||
| 10 | provision of the Voting Rights Act which provided a screening
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| 11 | mechanism for changes in voting procedures in certain states | ||||||
| 12 | and jurisdictions with a history of
voter discrimination; and
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| 13 | WHEREAS, The Supreme Court's decision in Shelby County has | ||||||
| 14 | allowed states and jurisdictions
to pursue and justify a range | ||||||
| 15 | of changes to voting procedures which would infringe upon the | ||||||
| 16 | right to
vote and negatively and disproportionately impact | ||||||
| 17 | minority voters; and | ||||||
| 18 | WHEREAS, These voting changes include enhanced and | ||||||
| 19 | aggressive voter identification laws,
limitations on early | ||||||
| 20 | voting, and statewide voter purges; and
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| 1 | WHEREAS, On Januray 16, 2014, United States Senators | ||||||
| 2 | Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Richard Durbin
(D-IL), and Chris Coons | ||||||
| 3 | (D-DE) introduced The Voting Rights Amendment Act, S.
1945, | ||||||
| 4 | that would strengthen the foundation of the original Voting | ||||||
| 5 | Rights Act and combat current
and future discrimination; and
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| 6 | WHEREAS, The Voting Rights Amendment Act represents a | ||||||
| 7 | bipartisan response to the Supreme
Court's invitation in Shelby | ||||||
| 8 | County to update the Voting Rights Act and address the
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| 9 | demonstrated need for protections to the right to vote; | ||||||
| 10 | therefore, be it
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| 11 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
| 12 | NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE | ||||||
| 13 | SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that we urge Congress to pass S. | ||||||
| 14 | 1945, the Voting Rights Amendment Act; and be it further
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| 15 | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | ||||||
| 16 | delivered to the Majority and Minority
Leaders of the United | ||||||
| 17 | States Senate, the Speaker and Minority Leader of the United | ||||||
| 18 | States House
of Representatives, and the members of the | ||||||
| 19 | Illinois congressional delegation.
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