Over the last few months, Black US Representatives have been applying pressure on their counterparts in the Senate to pass sweeping voting rights laws. Many of those protesting have been arrested as they seek to send a message.
On Tuesday, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act passed in the House of Representatives, but it's unlikely to move in the US Senate, where 60 votes are needed to bypass a filibuster.
An additional bill, the For the People Act, passed in the House in March but was killed in the Senate in June.
The John Lewis Voting Rights Act focuses on restoring the Voting Rights Act that was gutted following two major Supreme Court decisions. The For the People Act focuses on making it easier to vote in a federal election, reforms campaign finance laws, and is meant to protect US elections from foreign interference. If passed, the institutional changes would begin to take place by the 2022 midterm elections.
The members of Congress organizing and participating in the actions have invoked the legacy of the late Civil Rights icon Rep. John Lewis, who passed in July 2020.
Lewis held a crucial role in the passage of voting rights during the Civil Rights movement. Lewis, alongside activist Hosea Williams, organized a peaceful demonstration in support of voting rights. Nearly 60 of 600 attendees were injured - Lewis suffered from a fractured skull. The demonstration was named Bloody Sunday.
As of August, GOP lawmakers across a total of 17 states have passed over 28 bills tightening access to the ballot box, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. At the federal level, Republicans are continuing to mount a legislative strategy of blocking voting rights legislation, after Trump and his allies in office attempted to overturn the 2020 election results based on lies.
A demonstration outside the Capitol earlier in August "centered on voting rights, immigration reform, a $15 an hour federal minimum wage and eliminating the Senate filibuster that has stymied passage of related federal legislation" and led to over 200 arrests, according to Religion News.
Here are the lawmakers who have been arrested this year protesting for voting rights: