Alex Padilla U.S. Senator for California

WASHINGTON, D.C. — This week, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) spoke on the Senate floor ahead of the ten-year anniversary of Shelby v. Holder, the Supreme Court decision that struck down the preclearance formula for Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, eliminating protections against state-level voter suppression efforts. 

Padilla called out the widespread voter suppression laws that Republicans have enacted since Shelby v. Holder including strict voter ID laws, purging voter rolls, and limiting vote-by-mail and early voting. He urged his colleagues to restore key components of the Voting Rights Act by passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act to protect the fundamental right to vote for all eligible Americans.

Padilla also recognized California’s leadership on voting rights. As California Secretary of State, he implemented automatic and same-day voter registration, upgraded California’s voting systems to meet higher security standards, and expanded mail-in and in-person early voting – increasing access to the ballot box for millions of newly registered voters. 

WATCH: Click here to view Padilla’s full remarks

Key Excerpts:

• This coming Sunday marks the 10-year anniversary since the Supreme Court’s Shelby v. Holder decision — when – surprise, surprise – a Conservative majority of the Supreme Court voted to dramatically erode Americans’ access to the ballot and undo fifty years of voting rights protections.

• Since Shelby, we’ve seen state after state exploit this decision to enact dozens of laws designed to make it harder to vote. Despite the proponents’ claims, the effect of these laws is to make it harder, and disproportionately for voters of color, voters with disabilities, college students, and senior citizens to register to vote, to stay registered vote, or to actually cast their ballot. 

• In fact, since 2020 alone, 33 states have passed at least 104 restrictive voting laws. And MAGA Republicans continue to spread false claims of massive voter fraud to cynically justify their voter suppression agenda.

• As the Chief Election Officer for a state of nearly 40 million Americans —– the most populous state in the nation and the most diverse state in the nation —– I actually worked to establish automatic, same-day voter registration, to upgrade California’s voting systems to meet higher security standards, and to expand mail-in and in-person early voting opportunities. That’s why today there are more than 22 million Californians on the voter rolls — that’s right, there are more voters in California than the population of Florida — and the voter rolls are now the most accurate and up to date than they’ve ever been.

• California has taken a stand because our right to vote is worth fighting for — and because when it comes to defending and strengthening our democracy, California proudly leads.  Now it’s time for Congress follow this example. 

• Too often in our nation’s history, it’s been Congress that has obstructed our path to justice. This body has not always upheld the legacy of the Americans who marched for the right to vote, who risked their safety for the right to vote, or who gave their life so that we might all have a say in this democracy.

• Mr. President, ten years after Shelby, it’s clear that this decision has undermined the fabric of our democracy.

• So I urge all of you to join me in restoring these key components of the Voting Rights Act, let’s pass, once again, landmark legislation to protect our sacred right to vote, and let us live up to the legacy of the civil rights movement.

Remarks as delivered are below:

Mr. President, I rise today just a few days ahead of the anniversary of one of the most devastating Supreme Court voting rights decisions in our nation’s history. 

This coming Sunday marks the 10-year anniversary since the Supreme Court’s Shelby v. Holder decision — when –surprise, surprise – a conservative majority of the Supreme Court voted to dramatically erode Americans’ access to the ballot and undo fifty years of voting rights protections.

Now, with the benefit of hindsight and my six years of experience as California’s Chief Elections Officer — I can say that the decision in Shelby was not just an anomaly in our nation’s history.

Since Shelby, we have seen state after state exploit this decision to enact dozens of laws designed to make it harder for some people to vote.

Despite the proponents’ claims, the effect of these laws is to make it harder, and disproportionately for voters of color, voters with disabilities, college students, and senior citizens to register to vote, to stay registered vote, or to actually cast their ballot. 

But unfortunately, we’ve seen this before.

While the 15th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1870, guaranteeing all citizens the right to vote regardless of race, that did not stop states from limiting access to the ballot.

Poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses — coupled with the brutal violence of the Jim Crow South — made it nearly impossible for Black citizens and other minorities at the time to exercise their constitutional rights. 

Yes, I know it’s not pleasant to be reminded of this, but Mr. President, I think it’s important to keep restating these facts for the record before they end up getting censured out of some history books in schools in different parts of this country. The times we’re living in, I’ll tell you. 

These violations were so egregious and so pervasive that it would take Congress nearly a century to address them. 

Congress only took action after the marches of civil rights leaders and the chorus of protests grew so strong that they could no longer be ignored.

The country witnessed the civil rights movement and leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King and John Lewis call out the fundamental hypocrisy of a nation who promised all men and women to be equal, but whose professed principles stopped at the entrance to the polling place.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a monument to freedom. But it was certainly never intended to be temporary, let alone a final chapter in the struggle for equality.

The Voting Rights Act was actually a reminder, a reminder that America’s democracy is imperfect, and that it’s each generation’s job to bring us closer to being a “more perfect Union.”

So, in June of 2013, when the Supreme Court struck down Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act in that Shelby v. Holder decision — the provision which required states with a history of racially motivated voter suppression to prove that any new laws or regulations would not adversely impact minority voters before they could be implemented — that decision undid fifty years of voting rights protections.

In an instant, the Supreme Court scrapped Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which was a critical tool which that successfully protected us against the most egregious forms of voter suppression.

As a result of the Shelby decision, today, too many eligible citizens, eligible citizens, have fallen victim to a new set of barriers put in place by Republican-led state legislatures. 

Modern day voter suppression efforts might be a little bit more subtle than what we saw in the mid-20th century, but make no mistake, they are no less effective in suppressing the vote.

Purging voter rolls, limiting vote-by-mail, limiting early voting. These are all strategies designed to make it unduly harder for people to have their voice heard in our democracy. 

While we celebrate the recent Supreme Court decision in Allen v. Milligan, which was vitally important in upholding Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and affirming decades of Supreme Court jurisprudence on the Voting Rights Act, we must remember that the Act as a whole is failing to function as it was intended, as it was originally adopted. 

And make no mistake: the right to vote, the precious right to vote, continues to be attacked.

Mississippi has passed one of the strictest voter ID laws in the country.

Georgia cut ten percent of its polling locations ahead of the 2020 elections — mostly around the Atlanta metropolitan area, despite the fact that registering two million new voters. More voters deserve more opportunities to vote, not less. 

In fact since 2020 alone, 33 states have passed at least 104 restrictive voting laws.

And MAGA Republicans continue to spread false claims of massive voter fraud to cynically justify their voter suppression agenda.

It’s these types of threats to our democracy fueled my work as California Secretary of State, prior to my joining the Senate. 

As the Chief Election Officer for a state of nearly 40 million Americans —– the most populous state in the nation and the most diverse state in the nation —– I actually worked to establish automatic, same-day voter registration, to upgrade California’s voting systems to meet higher security standards, and to expand mail-in and in-person early voting opportunities.

We intentionally and aggressively worked to make our democracy more secure and more inclusive, not less. 

That’s why today there are more than 22 million Californians on the voter rolls — that’s right, there are more voters in California than the population of Florida — and the voter rolls are now the most accurate and up to date than they’ve ever been. That’s good for election integrity. 

And we’ve seen record turnout as a result in 4 of the last 6 elections. That’s the way democracy is supposed to work. 

California has taken a stand because our right to vote is worth fighting for — and because when it comes to defending and strengthening our democracy, California proudly leads.

Now it’s time for Congress follow this example. 

Mr. President, in the fight for civil and voting rights, a quote by Dr. Martin Luther King’s is often invoked: “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

Too often in our nation’s history, it’s been Congress that has obstructed our path to justice.

This body has not always upheld the legacy of the Americans who marched for the right to vote, who risked their safety for the right to vote, or who gave their life so that we might all have a say in this democracy.

Mr. President, ten years after Shelby, it’s clear that this decision has undermined the fabric of our democracy.

It’s time that we pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore a preclearance requirement and help protect the voting rights of all Americans. 

I believe that what I learned in high school government class is right, our country is stronger when more eligible Americans participate. 

And so that’s why we must also pass and implement the Freedom to Vote Act to set a national baseline of voter protections and access to the ballot. 

Our vote is sacred.

It’s how citizens exercise their voice in the political process.

It’s how we hold elected leaders accountable. 

And it’s how we, together, shape our country’s future. 

It is our sworn duty, colleagues, it’s our sworn duty to protect the right to vote.

So I urge all of you to join me in restoring these key components of the Voting Rights Act, let’s pass, once again, landmark legislation to protect our sacred right to vote, and let us live up to the legacy of the civil rights movement.

Thank you, Mr. President. 

I yield the floor. 

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