Voting Rights News

Press Release 09.11.19

AUDIO: Voting Rights Experts Discuss Poll Closure Epidemic in Arizona

WASHINGTON – The Leadership Conference Education Fund held a telebriefing today to discuss the staggering number of polling place closures in Arizona, a state with a long history of racial discrimination in its election system. The Education Fund’s recently released report, “Democracy Diverted: Polling Place Closures and the Right to Vote,” found that 13 states shuttered 1,688 polling places since the 2012 general election cycle.

Press Release 09.10.19

AUDIO: Civil Rights Experts Discuss Poll Closure Epidemic, Demand Congress Restore Voting Rights Now

WASHINGTON – The Leadership Conference Education Fund held a telebriefing today to discuss the staggering number of polling place closures in states with histories of racial discrimination in just the past six years. The Education Fund’s recently released report, “Democracy Diverted: Polling Place Closures and the Right to Vote,” found that 13 states shuttered 1,688 polling places since the 2012 general election cycle.

Press Release 09.10.19

Report: 1,688 Poll Closures ‘Divert’ U.S. Democracy

WASHINGTON – Thirteen U.S. states closed a staggering 1,688 polling locations in just six years, according to a new report from The Leadership Conference Education Fund. The report, “Democracy Diverted: Polling Place Closures and the Right to Vote,” notes that 1,173 of the closures occurred between the 2014 and 2018 midterm elections – underscoring the scale of this assault on U.S. democracy. Texas, Georgia, and Arizona top the list of highest closure rates between 2012 to 2018.

Press Release 09.5.19

ADVISORY: Civil Rights Experts Ring Alarm on Poll Closure Epidemic, Urge Passage of Voting Rights Advancement Act

WASHINGTON – The Leadership Conference Education Fund will hold a national press call on Tuesday, September 10, at 3 p.m. ET to discuss its newly released report, “Democracy Diverted: Polling Place Closures and the Right to Vote.” A second iteration of original research first released in 2016, the report analyzes 757 of 861 counties and county-level equivalents previously covered by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), which the U.S. Supreme Court gutted in its Shelby County v. Holder decision. The report explains how and why polling place closures are having an increasingly detrimental impact on communities in states with histories of voter discrimination.

Press Release 04.25.19

Voting Rights Campaign Pushes for Reform at Ohio Field Hearing

CLEVELAND – Mike Brickner, Ohio state director of All Voting is Local, a collaborative campaign housed at The Leadership Conference Education Fund, will testify before the House Administration Committee’s Subcommittee on Elections today during its “Voting Rights and Election Administration in Ohio” field hearing. In his testimony, Brickner emphasizes efforts to undercut voting rights in Ohio and urges policy makers to protect equal access to the ballot box.

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