(Legal Defense Fund) – Promises. They can carry a lot of weight. We write songs about promises. If you’re of a certain generation, you may remember Dionne Warwick’s song Promises, Promises. On playgrounds across the country, young children bind their friendships with “pinky promises.” And, of course, there are nuptials that invoke promises of partnership, faith and devotion between future spouses. Relevant today is what the late Barbara Jordan, a pioneering Texas native who was the first Southern Black woman elected to Congress, made so very plain, “[w]hat people want is very simple – they want an America as good as its promise.”
Jordan also said, “[m]y faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution.” Her statement was more than a reflection on the importance of upholding founding principles; it was a call to action to stand up to those who would destroy our notion of a democracy. It is this type of call that Texas must heed right now: to protect the right to vote.
House Bill 5258, the Barbara Jordan Texas Voting Rights Act, is Texas’ best opportunity to honor Jordan’s call to action.
The federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 was the greatest achievement of the Civil Rights Movement. For decades, it required states with histories of voting discrimination, including Texas, to get election changes preapproved to ensure that they did not harm voters of color – a process called “preclearance.” In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court’s Shelby County v. Holder decision struck down the framework for identifying places subject to preclearance, paving the way for widespread racially discriminatory voter suppression. Though what’s left of the VRA still offers protections, it faces ongoing attacks, including recent federal court rulings, affecting Texas and elsewhere, that limit who can bring voting rights lawsuits under the law.
Since the Shelby County decision, Texas has deployed egregious voter suppression tactics against Black voters and other voters of color, forcing the Legal Defense Fund and others to go to court. Infamously, Senate Bill 1, enacted in 2021, blocked access to the ballot box by limiting accessible voting options, like “drive-thru” voting, mail-in ballot drop-boxes, and early and absentee voting. Although courts have struck down parts of the law, absentee ballot rejections rose rapidly, with documented racial disparities in rejection rates. Ahead of the 2024 general election, more than 2.1 million registered Texans were purged from the active voter rolls.
Currently, the Tarrant County Board of Commissioners is redrawing its local redistricting map mid-decade in a way that protects white leadership by surgically removing communities of color from certain districts, weakening the strength of Black and Brown voters.
Amid constant threats from a hostile federal government, including efforts to impose discriminatory identification requirements through executive orders and legislation, it is more important than ever that we chart a different course and guarantee elections in Texas are free and fair for all citizens of the Lone Star state.
In fact, voting rights champions recently defeated discriminatory legislation in the Texas legislature that would have required burdensome documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote. We have community advocates and pro-democracy legislators who took a stand to thank for that.
We can build on that momentum by passing the Rep. Jordan Texas Voting Rights Act and finally turn the page on Texas’ troubling record. The Texas VRA proposes proven solutions that will protect Texas voters from voting policies and practices that discriminate against voters based on their race or ability to speak English with ease. And it will ensure that voters can get their day in court to challenge barriers to the ballot box.
The Texas VRA’s bold vision for improving elections for all eligible Texans will allow the state to join eight other states that have already enshrined State Voting Rights Acts into law, including Colorado, which passed the Colorado VRA this May. It will also send a powerful message to politicians: we won’t tolerate discriminatory voter suppression without a fight. State Voting Rights Acts help fight voter suppression tactics as we work to move toward a country that makes good on its promise.
The Barbara Jordan Texas VRA will help ensure the right to vote is neither subverted nor destroyed by those who wish to silence voters’ voices. It is this type of progress that would bring America closer to realizing its promise.
Demetria McCain currently serves as director of policy for the Legal Defense Fund. She was previously part of the Biden-Harris Administration serving as HUD’s Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity.