Lawmakers move to restore Voting Rights Act

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WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan group of lawmakers is introducing legislation to restore some parts of the Voting Rights Act that were stripped by a Supreme Court ruling last year.

Republican Rep. James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, Democratic Rep. John Conyers of Michigan and Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont introduced bills Thursday to update a formula used to require certain states with a history of discrimination to get federal approval before making any changes in the way they hold elections.

The court said the formula relied on four-decade-old data that doesn’t reflect racial progress and other changes in U.S. society. The bill would change the formula to require advance approval of changes only in states, cities and counties where Voting Rights Act violations have occurred in the past 15 years.

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