Delaware Voting Rights Act Passes State House of Representatives

On June 18, the Delaware John Lewis Voting Rights Act (DEVRA) passed in the Delaware House of Representatives in a bipartisan vote. This crucial bill will help prohibit racial discrimination in voting procedures at the local level, including in redistricting.

"The Delaware House, in a bipartisan vote, has recognized how urgently the DEVRA voter protections are needed," said Christina Das, Policy Counsel at the Legal Defense Fund. "Every single day that passes without the DEVRA is another day where Black Delawareans - a quarter of the state population - are at risk of voting discrimination. We hope to see this bill move just as quickly in the Delaware Senate."

The DEVRA will protect Black voters and improve elections by implementing elements that prohibit voter suppression; prohibit racial vote dilution; prohibit voter intimidation, deception, and obstruction; ensure judges interpret laws in favor of voters; and empower voters to fight discrimination in court.

The DEVRA is very popular with Delaware voters. 64% of Delawareans support the passage of a State Voting Rights Act.

The bill (HB 444) now moves to the state Senate, where it will go before the Senate Elections & Government Affairs Committee in a hearing on June 25.

Learn more about the DEVRA.

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Founded in 1940, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) is the nation's first civil rights legal organization. LDF has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957, though it was founded under the leadership of Thurgood Marshall while he was at the NAACP. LDF's Thurgood Marshall Institute (TMI) is a division of LDF that undertakes innovative research and houses LDF's archive. In all media attributions, please refer to us as the Legal Defense Fund or LDF (do not include NAACP) and refer to the Institute as LDF's Thurgood Marshall Institute or TMI.