STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Greg Casar mentioned the Voting Rights Act, which is 60 years old today. Six decades later, Democrats are pushing to renew it. WABE's Sam Gringlas reports.
SAM GRINGLAS, BYLINE: The late Georgia Congressman John Lewis was 25 when he helped lead a Selma-to-Montgomery march for voting rights in the spring of 1965. But as the marchers attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge, they were violently attacked by state troopers on what became known as Bloody Sunday. Lewis recalled that day on the 50th anniversary in 2015.
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JOHN LEWIS: We were beaten, tear-gassed. Some of us was left bloody right here on this bridge.
GRINGLAS: The violence and the persistence of the marchers helped compel President Johnson to act.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
LYNDON B JOHNSON: Because it's not just Negroes, but really, it's all of us who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice. And we shall overcome.
(APPLAUSE)
GRINGLAS: He signed the bipartisan Voting Rights Act that August, banning literacy tests and other barriers to the ballot box. Since then, Black voter participation skyrocketed. More Black candidates were elected. But Democrats like Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock say that legacy is under threat.
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RAPHAEL WARNOCK: Nothing is more important right now than passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and we need to get that done now.
(APPLAUSE)
GRINGLAS: That bill would modernize the law and, again, require jurisdictions with a history of voting discrimination, like Georgia, to preclear changes to voting rules with the U.S. Department of Justice. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down that requirement in 2013. This could become relevant as states like Texas pursue mid-decade redistricting to bolster Republicans' chances of keeping control of Congress in next year's midterm elections. Once bipartisan, Republicans have opposed reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act in recent years, saying the requirements are no longer needed.
For NPR News, I'm Sam Gringlas in Atlanta.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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