Ever since the Supreme Court gutted the VRA like a fish by abolishing Section 4 as outdated (despite the overwhelming evidence that it is still valid SINCE the decision was announced), many commentators have said it is impossible to create a new Section 4 due to political inertia and partisan division. That's probably true, if it was simply a list. Red state (Republican) legislators don't want to recognize their states as still being bigoted, and blue state legislators (mostly, but not all Democrats) don't want to list their own states, like Pennsylvania, for trying to institute discriminatory Voter ID laws.
I'd like to suggest a rule that's really a rule, and not a list of jurisdictions. Under the previous Section 4, a jurisdiction (city, county or state) that had been placed on the Section 4 map could be delisted by demonstrating a clean voting history for ten years. let's just carry that rule forward. Rules below the orange squiggly.
1) As of the effective date of the new rule, any jurisdiction that had been found guilty under any section of the Voting Rights Act for actions taken within the past ten years is automatically on the VRA Section 4.
2) This action will apply only at the level at which the violation occurred. If a state is found guilty of a VRA action (gerrymandering or voting ID law violation, for example), the state is on the list, but not the counties or cities within the state, unless they too had violated the VRA as well within the past ten years.
3) Each year, on the anniversary of the effective date of the new rule, compliance would be re-evaluated. New jurisdictions would be added if they had fallen afoul of the VRA in the past year, and if the last violation for another jurisdiction was now more than ten years old, the jurisdiction would be removed from the list.
4) Violations would be triggered by either DOJ actions, or by private suits.
5) if the DOJ brings suit, whatever action is being taken that triggered the suit is automatically stayed until the DOJ suit is resolved.
If all of the red states are really serious that they have changed since the 1960's, they could once again end Section 4 within ten years.
Comments, questions and ideas to strengthen the proposal are welcome!