John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2025
Sponsored By: Senator Durbin, Richard J. [D-IL]
Introduced
Summary
This bill would restore and strengthen federal voting-rights protections by rewriting Section 2, creating a practice-based preclearance process for certain election changes, and boosting transparency and enforcement.
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- Voters in racial, language-minority, and Tribal communities would gain broader legal standards to challenge discrimination. The bill would add distinct Section 2 tests for vote-dilution, vote-denial, and intentional discrimination and add a retrogression standard that applies to actions taken on or after 2021.
- State and local election officials would face new preclearance and public-notice rules. Covered changes like election methods, redistricting shifts, ID rules, polling-place moves, and voter-list removals would need review before implementation and require pre-election notices 30 days before Federal elections with 48-hour updates.
- The Department of Justice and private citizens would get stronger tools to enforce rights. The Attorney General would centralize observers, extend bilingual protections to 2037, seek preventive relief, issue pre-action information demands, and pursue expanded court remedies.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
8 provisions identified: 4 benefits, 0 costs, 4 mixed.
Criminal penalties to protect voting places
If enacted, the bill would make it a federal crime to willfully stop someone from voting or to damage polling places to interfere with elections. Base penalties would be fines up to $2,500 and/or up to 6 months in jail. If someone is injured or a weapon or fire is used, penalties would rise to fines up to $5,000 and/or up to 1 year in jail. The Attorney General must certify certain federal prosecutions before they proceed.
New tests for voting discrimination
If enacted, this bill would change the law that decides when voting rules discriminate. It would add four tests: vote-dilution, vote-denial or abridgment, intentional discrimination, and retrogression. The retrogression test would apply to actions taken on or after January 1, 2021. Courts would use these tests when reviewing challenged voting rules.
Practice-based preclearance for election changes
If enacted, the bill would create a new preclearance system for specific election changes. States and localities would have to identify listed "covered practices" and not implement them unless a court clears them or the Attorney General does not object within 60 days. Covered practices include some method-of-election changes, boundary shifts that reduce a group's share, new ID or document rules, reductions in multilingual materials, and certain polling-place or list-maintenance changes. The preclearance rules would apply to changes made 60 days after enactment.
New polling-place notice rules and grants
If enacted, jurisdictions would have to post public notice within 48 hours after a voting-rule or polling-place change that differs from rules 180 days before the election. Before the 30th day before a federal election, they would publish details for each polling place: address, accessibility, number of machines, poll-worker counts, and hours. Counties, cities, and school districts with more than 10,000 people must follow these rules. The Attorney General would also make yearly grants to very small localities (10,000 people or less) to help them meet notice duties.
Stronger DOJ tools and private relief options
If enacted, the Attorney General could issue pre-action demands for documents and written answers before suing. Demands must include a sworn certificate and give at least 20 days to respond. The Attorney General or an aggrieved person could also seek preventive court relief to block likely vote-denying rules, and the bill updates attorney-fee rules and standards for preliminary injunctions.
Which places must get preclearance
If enacted, the bill would set numeric triggers for which States or localities must use preclearance. A State would be covered if it had 15 or more voting-rights violations in the last 25 years, or 10 or more including at least one committed by the State. A political subdivision would be covered if it had 3 or more violations in the last 25 years. Coverage would begin January 1 of the year the trigger is met and last 10 years.
Attorney General control of observers
If enacted, the Attorney General would take operational control of assigning and paying federal election observers. Observers could be sent when the Attorney General believes they are needed to enforce voting protections, including meritorious bilingual-voting complaints. The Office of Personnel Management could still help, but only with the Attorney General's consent.
Easier bailout and broader court reach
If enacted, the bill would make it easier for governments to seek a bailout (a declaratory judgment) and let a plaintiff ask the Attorney General to consent to entry of bailout judgments. It would also broaden federal courts' language so they can keep jurisdiction over actions alleging violations of this Act or federal voting laws, measured at the time a case begins.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Durbin, Richard J. [D-IL]
IL • D
Cosponsors
Raphael Warnock
GA • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Blumenthal, Richard [D-CT]
CT • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Charles Schumer
NY • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Booker, Cory A. [D-NJ]
NJ • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Shaheen, Jeanne [D-NH]
NH • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Whitehouse, Sheldon [D-RI]
RI • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Markey, Edward J. [D-MA]
MA • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
John Hickenlooper
CO • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Rosen, Jacky [D-NV]
NV • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Fetterman, John [D-PA]
PA • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Padilla, Alex [D-CA]
CA • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Van Hollen, Chris [D-MD]
MD • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Bennet, Michael F. [D-CO]
CO • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Schiff, Adam B. [D-CA]
CA • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Sanders, Bernard [I-VT]
VT • I
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Heinrich, Martin [D-NM]
NM • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Reed, Jack [D-RI]
RI • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Kim, Andy [D-NJ]
NJ • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Peter Welch
VT • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Wyden, Ron [D-OR]
OR • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Coons, Christopher A. [D-DE]
DE • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Hirono, Mazie K. [D-HI]
HI • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Gillibrand, Kirsten E. [D-NY]
NY • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Warren, Elizabeth [D-MA]
MA • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Baldwin, Tammy [D-WI]
WI • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Hassan, Margaret Wood [D-NH]
NH • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Gallego, Ruben [D-AZ]
AZ • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Cortez Masto, Catherine [D-NV]
NV • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Kaine, Tim [D-VA]
VA • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Elissa Slotkin
MI • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Warner, Mark R. [D-VA]
VA • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Murray, Patty [D-WA]
WA • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Ossoff, Jon [D-GA]
GA • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Kelly, Mark [D-AZ]
AZ • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Blunt Rochester, Lisa [D-DE]
DE • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Cantwell, Maria [D-WA]
WA • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Amy Klobuchar
MN • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Gary Peters
MI • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Murphy, Christopher [D-CT]
CT • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Luján, Ben Ray [D-NM]
NM • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Smith, Tina [D-MN]
MN • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. King, Angus S., Jr. [I-ME]
ME • I
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Merkley, Jeff [D-OR]
OR • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Duckworth, Tammy [D-IL]
IL • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Schatz, Brian [D-HI]
HI • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Sen. Alsobrooks, Angela D. [D-MD]
MD • D
Sponsored 7/29/2025
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
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