AG Garland Announces DOJ Will Double Its Civil Rights Division Staff in the Next 30 Days to Protect Voting Rights
With Senate in paralysis, top US law enforcement officer takes action on behalf of democracy
Despite its thin Democratic majority, Congress appears to be frozen in debate over two separate voting-rights measures.
Meanwhile, Republican-controlled states continue to enact their own legislation at the state level aimed at making it harder for many Americans — especially Black and other Americans who typically vote for Democrats — to access the franchise.
It's into this void, in which democracy needs protection, that US Attorney General Merrick Garland stepped Friday, specifically citing a need for action after a 2013 Supreme Court decision which began the process for weakening voting rights.
“But in recent years, the protections of federal voting rights law have been drastically weakened. In 2013, the Shelby County decision effectively eliminated the pre-clearance protections of the Voting Rights Act, which had been the [Justice] Department’s most effective tool to protect voting rights over the past half century,” Garland said. “Since that opinion, there has been a dramatic rise in legislative efforts that will make it harder for millions of citizens to cast a vote that counts.”
Under the pre-clearance requirement of that law, the Justice Department objected to more than 1,000 discriminatory voting changes between 1965 and 2006, according to Garland.
"So far this year, at least 14 states have passed new laws that make it harder to vote. And some jurisdictions, based on disinformation, have utilized abnormal post-election audit methodologies that may put the integrity of the voting process at risk and undermine public confidence in our democracy," Garland added. "The Civil Rights Division has already sent a letter expressing its concern that one of those audits may violate provisions of the Civil Rights Act that require election officials to safeguard federal election records, the very same provisions that form the original basis for the Department’s 1960 investigation in the Lynd case. The division also expressed concern that the audit may violate a provision of the Voting Rights Act that bars intimidation of voters.”
The Justice Department will use all existing provisions of the Voting Rights Act, the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act, and the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act to ensure that we protect every qualified American seeking to participate in American democracy, Garland vowed.
“We are scrutinizing new laws that seek to curb voter access, and where we see violations, we will not hesitate to act,” he said.
The Justice Department will double enforcement staff in the Civil Rights Division within the next 30 days.
Garland also vowed to take action against any voting discrimination against Black or other voters of color.
“We are also scrutinizing current laws and practices in order to determine whether they discriminate against Black voters and other voters of color,” he said. “Particularly concerning in this regard are several studies showing that, in some jurisdictions, nonwhite voters must wait in line substantially longer than white voters to cast their ballots.”
And federal authorities will stand for no voter intimidation.
“Finally, we have not been blind to the dramatic increase in menacing and violent threats against all manner of state and local election workers, ranging from the highest administrators to volunteer poll workers,” Garland said. “Such threats undermine our electoral process and violate a myriad of federal laws.”