February 29, 2024
(WASHINGTON) — Today, on behalf of the organization and its affiliates, NCNW sent a letter to Senate leadership, urging the swift passage of the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (VRAA).This legislation, which was reintroduced Thursday, establishes new safeguards on existing voting rights, enhances accessibility for eligible voters, prevents discriminatory anti-voter tactics, and reinstates protections set in the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
“Everything from polling place closures to voter ID laws enactment have increased voter suppression and the ability to protect the 15th Amendment right that no citizen be denied the right to vote based on race,” the civil rights organization wrote in the letter. “The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act not only ensures that voting is protected but serves to ensure that the demographics of voters are fairly and accurately represented. With the dismantling of democracy and polarization on the rise, we need the protections in the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act now more than ever.”
Members of NCNW policy and legal teams also attended Thursday’s VRAA press conference featuring remarks by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee; U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY); U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA); Maya Wiley, President and CEO, The Leadership Conference; John C. Yang, President and Executive Director, Asian Americans, Advancing Justice-AAJC; Damon Hewitt, President and Executive Director, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; Deirdre Schifeling, Chief Political and Advocacy Officer, ACLU.