Democracy Restoration Act

The Demo­cracy Restor­a­tion Act (DRA) is federal legis­la­tion that seeks to restore voting rights in federal elec­tions to the millions of disen­fran­chised Amer­ic­ans who have been released from prison and are living in the community, but are still denied the right to vote.

The DRA is included in Subtitle E of H.R. 1, the omni­bus demo­cracy reform bill which origin­ally passed the House during the 116th Congress on March 8, 2019, and has now been rein­tro­duced during the 117th Congress. The DRA was also intro­duced as a stan­dalone bill, most recently in the 117th Congress by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD).

For a list of Senat­ors signed on as co-spon­sors of the DRA, click here. For a list of members of Congress who have signed on as co-spon­sors of H.R. 1, click here.

• DRA Factsheet
• Legal analysis of the consti­tu­tion­al­ity of the DRA
• Related Press
• Bill Status/History
• Groups and Indi­vidu­als who support the DRA
• Supple­mental Writ­ten Testi­mony

Currently, 27 states continue to disen­fran­chise people after release from prison. For a state-by-state guide on felony disen­fran­chise­ment laws around the coun­try, view our map here. Restor­ing the Right to Vote, a compre­hens­ive policy proposal, is here. To read more about voting rights restor­a­tion, click here. 

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Press

• Read a post at the Amer­ican Consti­tu­tion Soci­ety Blog by Deborah J. Vagins and Erika Wood on the import­ance of the DRA.
• Read a press release by Sen. Cardin’s office on the bill’s rein­tro­duc­tion.
• For all press, research, and news on felony disen­fran­chise­ment, click here.

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Bill History

2021

• 01/04/21 – The DRA was rein­tro­duced by Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD) in the House as part of H.R. 1 and referred to commit­tee.
• 02/11/21 – The DRA received 217 total cospon­sors as part of H.R. 1
• 02/25/21 – The DRA was rein­tro­duced as a stan­dalone bill by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD).
• 04/19/21 – Civil rights organ­iz­a­tions, elec­tion offi­cials, faith groups, and law enforce­ment and crim­inal justice lead­ers across the coun­try submit­ted letters in support of the DRA to Sen. Ben Cardin.

2019

• 04/09/19 – The DRA was intro­duced by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) in the Senate as S.1068.
  • Sen. Cardin and Minnesota Rep. Jerry Hertaus (R-Minn.) gave open­ing remarks at a brief­ing on the bill at the Senate Visitor Center. Myrna Pérez, the director of Voting Rights and Elec­tions Program, moder­ated a panel that included:
    • Nicole Hanson, Out for Justice
    • Edgardo Cortes, Former Virginia Commis­sioner of Elec­tions
    • Rev. Jim Liske, Christ Memorial Church
    • Veron­ica Cunning­ham, Amer­ican Proba­tion and Parole Asso­ci­ation
• 03/09/19 – The House of Repres­ent­at­ives voted 234–193 in favor of H.R. 1, or the For the People Act of 2019.
• 03/05/19 – The Bren­nan Center submit­ted Supple­mental Writ­ten Testi­mony in support of the DRA.
• 01/03/19 – The DRA was intro­duced by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) in the House as H.R.196 and included in Subtitle E of H.R.1, the first bill intro­duced in the 116th Congress.

 

2018

• 07/26/18 – The DRA was intro­duced by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) in the House as H.R.6612.

 

2017

• 07/19/17 – The DRA was intro­duced by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) in the Senate as S.1588.

 

2015

• 03/18/15 – The DRA was intro­duced by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) in the Senate as S.772. The DRA was intro­duced by Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) in the House as H.R.1459 the follow­ing day.

 

2014

• 04/10/14 – The DRA was intro­duced by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) as S.2235 and H.R.4459. 

 

2012

• 04/25/12 – Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), the Senate spon­sor of the DRA, gave open­ing remarks at a brief­ing on the bill at the Capitol Visitor Center. Nicole Austin-Hillery, the director of the Bren­nan Center’s Wash­ing­ton, DC office, moder­ated a panel that included:
  • Desmond Meade, Pres­id­ent, Flor­ida Rights Restor­a­tion Coali­tion
  • Deborah J. Vagins, Senior Legis­lat­ive Coun­sel, ACLU Wash­ing­ton Legis­lat­ive Office
  • Dave Louden, Assist­ant to the Pres­id­ent, Justice Fellow­ship (Prison Fellow­ship Minis­tries)
  • Carl Wicklund, Exec­ut­ive Director, Amer­ican Proba­tion & Parole Asso­ci­ation
• Pictures from the event can be found here.

 

2011

• 12/16/11 – The DRA was intro­duced by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) in the Senate as S.2017.
• 06/16/11 – The DRA was intro­duced by Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) in the House as H.R.2212.

 

2010

• 03/16/10 – The Judi­ciary Commit­tee, Consti­tu­tion, Civil Rights, and Civil Liber­ties Subcom­mit­tee held a hear­ing on the Demo­cracy Restor­a­tion Act. Among those testi­fy­ing include:
  • Burt Neuborne, Found­ing Legal Director of the Bren­nan Center
  • Carl Wicklund, Exec­ut­ive Director of the Amer­ican Proba­tion and Parole Asso­ci­ation and member of the Bren­nan Center Law Enforce­ment & Crim­inal Justice Advis­ory Coun­cil
  • Hilary O. Shelton, Director of the NAACP Wash­ing­ton Bureau
  • Ion Sancho, Super­visor for Elec­tions in Leon County, Flor­ida
  • Andres Idar­raga, a Yale law student who voted for the first time in 2008 after having his voting rights restored by a 2006 change to Rhode Island’s felony disen­fran­chise­ment law.

 

2009

• 12/11/09 – Congres­sional Brief­ing held on the DRA.
• 12/10/09 – Civil rights, law enforce­ment, crim­inal justice and faith organ­iz­a­tions and lead­ers submit­ted letters to members of Congress in support of the DRA.
• 07/24/09 – The DRA was intro­duced by  Sen. Fein­gold (D-WI) in the Senate as S. 1516 and by Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) in the House as H.R 3335.  
• 07/03/09 – Reps. John Conyers, Jr. and Jerrold Nadler wrote a letter to colleagues to garner support for the DRA.

 

2008

• 09/26/08 – The DRA was first intro­duced in the 110th Congress as S.3640 and H.R.7136.
  • Sen. Fein­gold’s state­ments can be found here.  

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Support for the DRA

A grow­ing and diverse coali­tion of organ­iz­a­tions supports the DRA. The follow­ing groups have submit­ted letters in support of the bill:

• Civil rights organ­iz­a­tions
• Elec­tion offi­cials
• Faith groups
• Law enforce­ment and crim­inal justice lead­ers