ATLANTA – The right of Americans to vote in federal elections would be codified in federal law for the first time under legislation introduced this week by U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga.
The Right to Vote Act is aimed at new laws around the country legislatures in Republican-controlled states have passed or considered since last year’s elections, including an election-law overhaul in Georgia that took effect July 1.
Ossoff’s bill would empower U.S. citizens to challenge in court any state or local government act that makes it more difficult to vote. Defendants in such cases would have to demonstrate a legitimate governmental interest in enacting such a law and that the new law is the least restrictive alternative available to accomplish that goal, Ossoff said Thursday.
Ossoff said the aftermath of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory over incumbent Republican President Donald Trump last November points to the need for establishing a statutory right to vote.
“We see that politicians in Georgia and states across the country are seeking to restrict access to the ballot, targeting Black voters just to gain a partisan advantage in elections,” Ossoff said.
Georgia Republicans have defended the law the General Assembly passed last March as restoring public trust in the electoral process by making it harder for those bent on committing voter fraud either at the polls or through absentee ballots.
Democrats have criticized the additional restrictions in the new law as voter suppression pushed by Republicans determined to reverse last year’s high-turnout victories in Georgia by Biden, Ossoff and fellow Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock.
Along with Ossoff’s bill, congressional Democrats are working to pass other legislation that would set national voting standards.
Republicans, including Gov. Brian Kemp, say such efforts represent an unconstitutional usurpation of states’ rights to run elections.
A companion bill to Ossoff’s legislation has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y.