MEDIA ADVISORY: Six Years After Shelby v. Holder Assault on Voting Rights, Activists to Rally Nationwide for Reforms
Events to Be Held in Alabama, Iowa, North Carolina, Texas, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio, New York and Washington, D.C
WHAT: Rallies will be held throughout the country on Tuesday, June 25, as part of a national day of action to mark six years since the U.S. Supreme Court’s disastrous Shelby v. Holder decision that eroded voting protections.
The decision, which gutted the Voting Rights Act, made it easier for states and localities to revert to discriminatory practices that restrict voting rights, with a particular impact on people of color, Native Americans, the disabled and students.
“Ruth Bader Ginsberg was right when she said ending preclearance was like ‘throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet,’” said Jonah Minkoff-Zern, co-director of Public Citizen’s Democracy Is For People campaign. “We are now being drenched by discriminatory voter suppression and it is time for Congress to act to restore the Voting Rights Act.”
To call for reforms to restore voting rights, activists will rally on June 25 in Shelby County, Alabama; Melbourne, Florida; Austin and Dallas, Texas; Des Moines, Iowa; Las Vegas, Nevada; Raleigh, North Carolina; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.; and Washington, D.C.
Events will be held on June 27 in Syracuse, New York, and on June 29 in Cleveland, Ohio.
The Washington, D.C., event will include a press conference at which congressional lawmakers will speak.
Activists will call for Congress to pass the Voting Rights Advancement Act and, for the U.S. Senate to approve the For the People Act (H.R. 1) These measures will restore our ability to prevent racial discrimination in voting, remove corporate and special interest money in politics and curb ethics abuses in government.
Groups organizing the events include Public Citizen, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the League of Women Voters, the Austin NAACP, the Texas Civil Rights Project, TexPIRG, MOVE Texas, Common Cause, Tillis Tuesday, Toomey Tuesday, NextGen Nevada, Make It Work Nevada and Indivisible.
WHO: Washington, D.C. speakers are:
U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Ala.)
U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas)
U.S. Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.)
U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.)
Vanita Gupta, president and CEO, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
Lisa Cylar Barrett, director of policy, The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (invited)
Kristen Clarke, president and executive director, National Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
WHEN: The Washington, D.C., event will be held at 2 p.m. EDT Tues., June 25.
See details here about the events in other states.
WHERE: Washington, D.C. event: 2141 Rayburn House Office Building
45 Independence Ave. SW, Washington, D.C.