PUBLISHED:February 26, 2021

Charles testifies before House committee on voting rights legislation

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The election law expert appeared virtually at a House Committee on House Administration hearing on the For the People Act of 2021.

Professor Guy Charles Professor Guy Charles

Guy-Uriel Charles, the Edward and Ellen Schwarzman Professor of Law and co-director of the Center on Law, Race, and Politics, testified at a Feb. 25 U.S. House committee hearing on voting rights legislation.

Charles, an expert on election law, including voting rights, campaign finance, and redistricting, urged the House Committee on House Administration to pass the For the People Act of 2021. The bill, also known as H.R. 1., contains a wide range of measures that would expand voter access, including establishing automatic and same-day voter registration, giving every American the option to vote by mail, instituting nationwide early voting, and restoring of voting rights to felons.

“If enacted, H.R. 1 would be the most transformative civil rights statute passed by Congress since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965,” he said.

Charles teaches and writes about constitutional law, election law, campaign finance, redistricting, politics, and race. He has published over 30 articles in journals including the Harvard Law Review, Constitutional Commentary, Cornell Law Review, Michigan Law Review, Michigan Journal of Race and Law, Georgetown Law Journal, Journal of Politics, California Law Review, North Carolina Law Review, and others.  He is the co-author of two leading casebooks and two edited volumes. 

Read Charles’ written testimony here.

Watch video of the Charles’ testimony here (begins at 44:19).