Broad Support for Voting Rights Act Anniversary Bolsters Civil Rights Groups on Law’s Restoration

Media 08.13.15

WASHINGTON – An unprecedented confluence of growing voter discrimination and the outpouring of support for the Voting Rights Act during its 50^th Anniversary has bolstered civil rights advocates calling for restoration of the landmark law.

In letters sent to Speaker of the House John Boehner, Majority Whip Steve Scalise, and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, civil rights advocates have ramped up their demands for action to restore the law after the Supreme Court gutted the VRA in 2013. The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights shared its “profound disappointment” with the Republican leaders for their “abdication of [their] responsibility to the Congress and to the nation.” The letters outlined the lengths to which each member has gone to ignore the voting discrimination happening nationwide:

· Representative Goodlatte (R-VA), who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, where two VRA restoration bills are awaiting a hearing, has been especially egregious in his opposition to holding a hearing on voting discrimination. As the letter outlines, he has continued to assert that he hasn’t seen evidence of voting discrimination even though his own state is under court order to redraw discriminatory congressional districts. Local and national advocates, who have been trying to bring the issue to his attention for two years, even held a rally with over 400 attendees in his Roanoke-based district on the anniversary of Shelby v. Holder earlier this year.

· Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) has refused to help move the VRA restoration forward, a refusal particularly troubling because of the longstanding controversy caused by his prior association with a White supremacist group. In an earlier meeting with Wade Henderson of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and Marc Morial of the National Urban League, Scalise was asked to co-sponsor the Voting Rights Amendment Act, to advocate for a House hearing on VRA restoration, or to help facilitate a meeting with Republican House leadership on the issue. He has failed to honor any of these requests, and even skipped the chance to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Bloody Sunday March in Selma, Alabama so he could attend a conference in the resort community of Sea Island, Georgia.

· Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has stayed silent on the issue despite ongoing voter discrimination in his home state. As the letter outlines, “your home state of Ohio has imposed a number of barriers to voting that disproportionately burden African Americans, Latinos, and young people. These include limits on the numbers of voting locations and voting machines, as well as restrictions that make absentee voting more difficult. Obstacles like these threaten to return voters in Ohio’s minority and college neighborhoods to the lengthy waiting lines that discouraged so many of them in 2004. Although litigation has been filed to eliminate these barriers to the ballot box, lawsuits take time and extensive resources.”

These letters come as momentum is growing nationwide for a VRA restoration:

· The 50^th Anniversary of the VRA on August 6^th spurred nationwide action and interest in restoring the Voting Rights Act, with events in at least half of the states, 25 newspaper editorial boards weighing in, with 44 op-eds published this month. A listing of those events and editorials is below.

· Recent court cases have recognized ongoing voter discrimination in Texas, Virginia, and North Carolina, validating the concerns of advocates who have been sounding the alarm of a discrimination resurgence that has taken place since the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013.

· President Obama and the major 2016 Democratic presidential nominees have all endorsed a restoration of the Voting Rights Act.House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy has signaled an interest in holding a House hearing on voting discrimination, saying, “an overall review, I think, it’s the right time to do it.”

Below is a listing of recent editorials, op-eds, and coverage of local events calling for a VRA restoration in the 50^th anniversary month of the VRA.

National Editorials and Op-Eds

· Washington Post Editorial: Happy birthday to the Voting Rights Act

· Washington Post: The Voting Rights Act is 50 years old. In North Carolina, its legacy hangs in the balance.

· Ebony News: The Legacy of the Voting Rights Act, 50 Years Later

· Newsweek Op-ed: Fifty Years On, LBJ’s Voting Rights Act Is Under Attack

· New York Times Magazine: What’s Left of the Voting Rights Act?

· Huffington Post Op-ed: The Fight for Voting Rights Is Our Fight Today

· Huffington Post Op-ed: 50 Years Later, Let’s Renew the Voting Rights Act

· AsAm News Asian Americans Advancing Justice Op-ed: 50 years of the Voting Rights Act: How this landmark legislation has protected the Asian American vote

· HuffPo America Votes Op-ed: Americans Should Push Back Against Voter Suppression Laws

· Demos Article in the Prospect: The Voting Rights Act at 50: Why We Still Need It — All of It

· New York Times Editorial: The Real Voter Fraud Is Texas’ ID Law