National Urban League: Voting Rights Advancement Act is Vital Defense Against Discrimination
Civil Rights Leaders Travel to Roanoke To Urge Congress and Rep. Goodlatte to Restore VRA
NEW YORK (June 24, 2015) — National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial issued the following statement following today’s introduction of the Voting Rights Advancement Act by Senators Patrick Leahy, Dick Durbin, and Chris Coons and Representatives John Lewis, Terri Sewell, Linda Sanchez and Judy Chu:
“There is no right more fundamental to our democracy than the right to vote. The U.S. Supreme Court’s deplorable decision in Shelby County v. Holder to gut Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act led states and localities across the country to enact discriminatory voter suppression laws.
The Voting Rights Advancement Act would help put a stop on this modern-day assault on the right to vote.
In the two years since elimination of Section 4 - which determines which jurisdictions are subject to the preclearance provision – we’ve seen widespread evidence of voting discrimination. Yet, Congress has failed to restore this crucial protection of the Voting Rights Act. Tomorrow, on the two-year anniversary of the Shelby decision, civil rights leaders will travel to Roanoke, Virginia, to join hundreds of concerned Americans in a rally for voting rights and democracy.
Congress and House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte will hear our message that they can’t continue to let voting discrimination run rampant throughout our country unchecked. Voting discrimination weakens our democracy and Congress has been remiss in allowing it to fester for the last two years.
When he signed the Voting Rights Act in 1965, President Lyndon Johnson said ‘the heart of the act is plain.’ Wherever states and counties are using regulations, laws or tests to deny the right to vote, they will be struck down. We have lost the heart of the act. With this legislation, we can restore it.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Teresa Candori
(212) 558-5362/tcandori@nul.org
