rich 1.0 Action Network https://actionnetwork.org <link href='https://actionnetwork.org/css/style-embed-v3.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><script src='https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v6/letter/we-need-the-voter-empowerment-act?format=js&source=widget'></script><div id='can-letter-area-we-need-the-voter-empowerment-act' style='width: 100%'><!-- this div is the target for our HTML insertion --></div> Center for Common Ground https://actionnetwork.org/groups/center-for-common-ground https://actionnetwork.org//images/generic_facebook.jpg Rep. John Lewis originally introduced the Voter Empowerment Act in 2012 as a comprehensive effort to expand access, strengthen accountability, and improve the integrity of the electoral process. The legislation sought to modernize voter registration by leveraging secure technology, reducing administrative barriers, and making participation in elections more accessible for eligible voters. In Georgia, the state legislature later enacted sweeping election legislation that shortened the runoff election timeline, imposed restrictions on early voting access, criminalized the distribution of food and water to voters waiting in line, expanded the ability to challenge voter registration and eligibility without meaningful limits, and adopted additional measures widely criticized for making voting more difficult. Following the weakening of key protections under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, including the erosion of federal oversight for jurisdictions with histories of discrimination, court decisions opened the door for increasingly aggressive partisan redistricting. As a result, legislatures in multiple states have pursued redistricting maps that critics argue dilute Black voting strength and dismantle majority-Black congressional districts in states where voting rights protections had already been significantly weakened. https://actionnetwork.org/letters/we-need-the-voter-empowerment-act