{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.warnock.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/amid-purge-of-ga-voter-rolls-senator-reverend-warnock-calls-for-restoration-of-voting-rights-act/", "Amid Purge of GA Voter Rolls, Senator Reverend\u00a0Warnock Calls for Restoration of Voting Rights Act", "2025-07-29", "2025", "2025-07", "Democrat", "Senate", "GA", "Raphael G. Warnock", "W000790", "www.warnock.senate.gov", "warnock", "https://www.warnock.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "Georgia\u2019s state government is currently purging nearly half a million registered voters from the voter rolls, one of the largest voter purges in the state\u2019s history\n\nSenator Reverend Warnock\u2019s John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act would strengthen protections against potentially discriminatory voting practices like voter purges across the country\n\nSenator Reverend Warnock served as Congressman John Lewis\u2019 pastor at Atlanta\u2019s Ebenezer Baptist Church\n\nSenator Reverend Warnock at the introduction press conference: \u201cA vote is a kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and our children\u201d\n\nLink to press conference HERE\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) joined Senate Judiciary Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-IL), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Alex Padilla (D-CA), and 43 of their Senate Democratic colleagues in reintroducing the John R. Lewis Voting Advancement Act, legislation that would update and restore critical safeguards of the original Voting Rights Act of 1965 that have been eroded in recent years by federal court rulings. The legislation would strengthen our democracy by reestablishing preclearance for jurisdictions with a pattern of voting rights violations, protecting minority communities subject to discriminatory voting practices, and defending election workers from threats and intimidation. It is named in honor of voting rights champion and former Georgia Congressman John Lewis.\n\nThis legislation is especially relevant in Georgia, where the Secretary of State\u2019s office is purging the state\u2019s voter rolls of nearly 500,000 voters, amounting to 6% of Georgia\u2019s 8.4 million registered voters. This legislation would strengthen protections against racially discriminatory voting procedures, which include improper voter purges. Most of the cancellations affect voters in metro Atlanta\u2019s counties of DeKalb, Cobb, Fulton and Gwinnett.\n\n\u201cAs I often say, a vote is a kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and our children,\u201d said Senator Reverend Warnock during the press conference. \u201cOur prayers are stronger when we pray together. Democracy is the political enactment of a spiritual idea that each of us has within ourselves the spark of the divine. We all have value, and if we all have value, we ought to have a voice in the direction of our country; we ought to have a vote.\u201d\n\nIn the wake of the Supreme Court\u2019s damaging Shelby County decision in 2013\u2014which crippled the federal government\u2019s ability under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to prevent discriminatory changes to voting laws and procedures\u2014states across the country have unleashed a torrent of voter suppression efforts, including SB 202 in Georgia. The Supreme Court\u2019s decision in Brnovich v Democratic National Committee delivered yet another blow to the Voting Rights Act by making it significantly harder for plaintiffs to win lawsuits under the landmark law against discriminatory voting laws or procedures.\n\nIn addition to Senator Warnock, Ranking Member Durbin, and Leader Schumer, the legislation was also introduced by U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT). The legislation is cosponsored by the entire Democratic caucus.\n\nThe VRAA is endorsed by 178 organizations. These organizations understand that voting rights are preservative of all other rights and progress on a range of critical issues cannot take place if citizens cannot make their voices heard. The list of endorsing Georgia and national organizations of The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act can be found HERE.\n\nBill text for the Voting Rights Advancement Act can be found HERE.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:48:13Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.warnock.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/amid-purge-of-ga-voter-rolls-senator-reverend-warnock-calls-for-restoration-of-voting-rights-act/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9300659876316786, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}