Sacramento, CA – The Senate this week passed The California Voting Rights Act of 2026 (CVRA of 26): Senate Bills 1164 and 1360 by Senator Sabrina Cervantes (D-Riverside). The timely legislative action, sponsored by the California Democracy Partnership, updates the landmark California Voting Rights Act to add new protections against voter discrimination and bolster our democracy which is under threat from unrelenting federal attacks.

The California Voting Rights Act of 2026 came before the Senate as recent polling found that two-thirds of California voters believe our democracy is under attack and voiced overwhelming support for state lawmakers to strengthen voter protections.

“With the Primary election already underway in California, passing The California Voting Rights Act of 2026 out of the Senate today was a crucial step and I thank my colleagues for their support. The CVRA of 2026 will strengthen our elections and make the ballot more accessible to all Californians. It addresses new and existing barriers to participation, expands language access, and reinforces safeguards against discrimination. Elections should be inclusive, accessible, and reliable for all who participate and the CVRA of 2026 demonstrates California’s leadership in upholding these values,” said Senator Sabrina Cervantes (D-Riverside), the author of the California Voting Rights Act of 2026.

The California Democracy Partnership, a growing group of civil justice, voting rights and labor organizations is sponsoring the CVRA of 2026. Advocates celebrated Wednesday’s advancement of the CVRA of 2026 out of the Senate but acknowledged there is much more work to do before the bills reach the Governor’s desk.

“Our best defense against attempts to silence our voices at the federal level is to strengthen and update our state level voter protections. We already have some of the strongest voting rights laws in the country but when these protections are being subverted at every chance, we must do more to safeguard our rights. We thank the Senators who championed democracy today by supporting the CVRA of 2026 and look forward to working with Assemblymembers to ensure our democracy is strengthened in the face of federal attacks. We are also committed to continuing to work with our partners in the legislature to ensure ballot access is increased, not diminished, through increased language access and investments in trusted messengers,” said Deanna Kitamura, Managing Attorney for Democracy & National Initiatives at the Asian Law Caucus.

The CVRA of 2026 will:

• Prohibit Voter Suppression: Confront threats to voter participation and access to voting opportunities that occur through discriminatory barriers to the ballot.
• Prohibit Vote Dilution: Protect against district maps or election systems that weaken or silence the voting power of communities of color. 
• Stop Voting Discrimination Before It Occurs: Require jurisdictions with a recent history of discrimination to obtain approval before making certain changes to voting practices. 
• Ensure Voters Can Directly Protect Their Rights: As voters’ ability to use the federal VRA comes under attack, ensure Californians can go to state court to enforce voting rights. 
• Require Courts to Interpret Laws in Favor of Voters: Direct courts to interpret laws and exercise discretion in favor of broad access and equal participation in the democratic process. 
• Guarantee the federal VRA’s language assistance requirements under state law: Codify Section 203 of the VRA’s requirement to provide in-language votable ballots and all other election materials to groups that meet a certain threshold in a county.
• Expand upon current Section 203 language coverage: Lower Section 203’s numerical threshold for assistance from 10K to 5K of adult citizens in a county, and expand upon Section 203’s language minority categories to include all language groups.
• Streamline and clarify the steps for language groups to receive assistance in voting: Gives groups not adequately captured in the Census the opportunity to show, through other sources, that they should qualify for language assistance. 

“Right now, we are in the midst of a critical battle to protect the franchise of Black voters and other voters of color, who are facing the greatest assault on their voting rights since the era of state-enforced racial discrimination known as Jim Crow,” said Adam Lioz, Senior Policy Counsel at the Legal Defense Fund. “The State Senate’s bipartisan passage of the California Voting Rights Act of 2026 helps put California back on the front lines, building on the state’s leadership in enacting the first ever State Voting Rights Act in 2002.”

Senate Bills 1164 and 1360 now move to the Assembly.

Learn more about the California Voting Rights Act of 2026 here: https://www.cademocracypartnership.org/CAVRA26

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Anchored in the belief that our democracy should be by the people, and for the people, the California Democracy Partnership is a growing group of racial justice, civil rights, union and community organizations focused on making sure our democracy works for everyone who calls California home. Learn more about our work and members of the Partnership here.