The Sconi

Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin has thrown her support behind the passage of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

“Today, I am voting to move the John Lewis Voting Rights Act forward because I believe voting rights are the foundation of our democracy and our democracy works best when all our voices can be heard,” Baldwin said in post to Twitter.

The measure first proposed by Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL) and passed by the House earlier this year seeks to “strengthen voting rights by expanding and strengthening the government’s ability to respond to voting discrimination,” with the bill establishing new criteria for determining which states and political subdivisions must obtain preclearance before changes to voting practices may take effect.

Supporters of the measure argue it’s now needed based on the way states “have brazenly pushed forward discriminatory changes to voting practices,” including such acts as changing district boundaries, the enactment of  “more onerous voter identification laws” and changing polling locations with little notice to the detriment of people of color, the elderly and people with disabilities.

Born in Alabama in 1940, Lewis is best known as an American civil rights leader and politician who once stood as one of the leaders of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and for leading the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma that came to be known as “bloody Sunday.”