Voting Rights Advocates Condemn Inaction on VRAA Before Congressional Recess & VRA Anniversary
WASHINGTON – On Thursday, July 31 at 12:00 p.m. EDT, voting rights advocates in Washington and across the country hosted a press call to condemn the lack of action by Congress on the Voting Rights Amendment Act (VRAA) before members leave Washington for the August recess. The call occurred only days before the 49th anniversaries of House passage (8/3), Senate passage (8/4), and the signing (8/6) of the original Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Call participants discussed voting discrimination happening nationwide, planned activities to push congressional action over the recess, and the anger in the states and Washington about the congressional standstill on the VRAA.
BELOW ARE KEY QUOTES FROM THE CALL:
Stosh Cotler, CEO of Bend the Arc
“Despite calls for Republican cosponsorship of the Voting Rights Amendment Act, despite that fact that dozens of republican lawmakers voted to renew the Voting Rights Act just eight years ago, and despite that fact that until this year, voting rights has never been a partisan issue for the public or for members of Congress, despite all of that—Republicans in Congress are still obstructing progress on voting rights. They won’t tell you that outright, but by ducking the issue, GOP lawmakers are holding up the VRAA and hoping that no one notices. Well, we are calling them out on it.”
Elena Nunez, executive director of Colorado Common Cause
“While our congressional members are home in August, they will hear from us on why this matters. Republicans and Democrats alike should be aligned with the bipartisan history of the intent of the Voting Rights Act to give access to the franchise to all voters and fight efforts to discriminate against communities of color.”
Ellen Buchman, vice president for field operations at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
“As members of Congress go home for the August recess without passing – or, in the case of the House of Representatives, even giving any time to – the bipartisan Voting Rights Amendment Act, they’re leaving behind their moral obligation to protect voters from discrimination.”
BACKGROUND MATERIAL – DOCUMENTED VOTING DISCRIMINATION:
- NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Senate Testimony and Report: How Formerly Covered States & Localities are Responding to the Supreme Court’s Voting Rights Act Decision [Report]
- MALDEF, NHLA, and NALEO: Latinos and the VRA: A Modern Fix for Modern-Day Discrimination
- The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights report: The Persistent Challenge of Voting Discrimination
- Brennan Center report: ‘Shelby County’: One Year Later
- NALEO Educational Fund report: Latinos and the Voting Rights Act
- National Commission on Voting Rights report expected from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law. Contact Stacie Royster at [email protected] for more information.