US House passes sweeping voting rights bill over GOP opposition

The Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives passed a flagship election reform bill on Wednesday that would update voting procedures and require states to turn over the task of redrawing congressional districts to independent commissions.

The bill passed by a mostly bipartisan vote of 220 to 210.

The legislation, numbered “H.R. 1” for the importance Democrats attach to it, “is designed to restore the voices of Americans who felt left out and locked out for too long,” its original sponsor, Representative John Sarbanes, said in remarks outside the U.S. Capitol before the vote.

The bill is one of many the House Democrats are voting on early in the Congress on a number of priorities, such as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, policing and the environment.