Come join the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, along with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and numerous other partners to commemorate and rally for a Voting Rights Act (VRA) for today! Let’s call for Congress to restore the VRA and strengthen our democracy!
On Thursday, June 25 ALL are urged to come to Elmwood Park by the Library on Jefferson St. in Downtown Roanoke! The pre-rally music and program will begin at 11:30 a.m.; the rally will conclude at 2 p.m. Come and be part of this historic movement –right here in Roanoke, VA!
The Voting Rights Act is among the most important civil rights laws ever enacted. The VRA made it possible for all voters across the country to participate equally in the electorial process in our democracy. Because of the VRA literacy tests, poll taxes and other discriminatory mechanisms were invalidated. In recent years, the VRA has blocked discriminatory voting practices, such as redistricting plans, registration requirements, polling place changes and voter ID laws found to be racially discriminatory.
On June 25, 2013 in Shelby County v. Holder, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated the key enforcement provision of the Voting Rights Act. In its decision, the Court recognized that racial discrimination in voting continues to plague our electoral system and called on Congress to revisit the enforcement scheme in the Act to ensure that it responds to current conditions. But in the two years since, Congress has failed to do its job to restore and strengthen the VRA!
On June 25, 2015, the civil rights community will make the 2-year anniversary of the Shelby County v Holder decision with a call for action to restore the Voting Rights Act. We will use this date to raise awareness of the importance of the VRA to the American democracy, and to do so we will bring hundreds of people together in Roanoke, VA to urge America to push members of Congress to restore this landmark law for generations to come.
Unless Congress acts, in 2016 voters will face the first presidential election in 50 years where they will lack strong protections in federal law to combat racial discrimination in voting.
Since the Supreme Court gutted the VRA in 2013, voting discrimination has become harder to stop. In states, counties, and cities across the country, a resurgence of laws to increase barriers to voting, and dilute minority voting strength, have put the rights to vote in more danger than at any time in the past 50 years.
On June 25, 2015, we will hold a Rally for Voting Rights in Roanoke, VA to mark the important legacy of the voting Rights Act and to declare that discrimination in voting will not be our “new normal.” We call on Congress to Restore the Voting Rights Act.
Congress made history 50 years ago when it came together across party lines to enact what became the most effective civil rights law in history. We must push Congress on June 25, to make history again and Restore the Voting Rights Act.
