McClellan Helps Introduce Slate of Voting Rights Bills

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan (VA-04) joined Congresswoman Nikema Williams (GA-05) and House and Senate Democrats to introduce a package of eight bills to safeguard voting rights and protect American democracy.

“I grew up on the stories of my parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents, who lived in the segregated South during Jim Crow. They faced blatant voting discrimination and had to overcome tremendous obstacles to exercise their fundamental right to vote. Their experiences served as a driving force in my commitment to protect and expand voting rights for every American, both in the Virginia General Assembly and now in Congress,” said Congresswoman McClellan. “As Congressman Lewis said, ‘Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part to help build what we called the Beloved Community, a nation and world society at peace with itself.’ As we commemorate the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, I am proud to join Congresswoman Williams to answer the late John Lewis’s charge and introduce this comprehensive set of voting rights bills. While conservative lawmakers and state legislatures seek to further restrict voting rights, congressional Democrats are fighting to protect and expand access to the ballot box, because your vote is your power.”

The slate of bills aims to protect and expand access to the ballot box and strengthen the nation’s physical and human election infrastructure. They include:

1. Expanding the VOTE Act: (passed the Judiciary Committee via bipartisan markup in 117th Congress) This bill gives jurisdictions the resources to provide more translations of election materials and ensure everyone, regardless of their level of English language proficiency, can equitably participate in our democracy.
2. Sustaining Our Democracy Act: This provides grant funding for states and local jurisdictions to improve and innovate their election administration procedures.
3. Voters on the Move Registration Act (included in Freedom to Vote Act): This provides voters with information on how to register to vote and their voting rights under law as they move residences.
4. Unhoused Voter Opportunity Through Elections (VOTE) Act: This provides protections and minimum standards for accessibility to voting for unhoused people, and provides resources for efforts to expand access to the ballot for unhoused people.
5. Election Mail Act: This improves the delivery and processing of election mail by setting minimum standards and improving USPS processes.
6. People Over Long Lines (POLL) Act: This sets minimum standards for how long people may wait in line to vote and provides resources to reduce voter wait times.
7. Youth Voting Rights Act: This bill enforces the bipartisan-passed Twenty-Sixth Amendment and ensures eligible youth voters can access the ballot box.
8. Time Off to Vote Act: This bill mandates that all workers receive protected time off in order to vote.

McClellan has been a voting rights champion her entire legislative career, from her first bill in 2006 to make absentee voting easier in Virginia to the Voting Rights Act of Virginia in 2021, which made Virginia the first state in the South with its own comprehensive voting rights act. Now in Congress, McClellan is a proud member of the Task Force on Strengthening Democracy.