[Occupymendocino] [Fwd: Sign if you agree: Fix the Voting Rights Act]

Sat Jan 23 19:30:58 PST 2016

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Sign if you agree: Fix the Voting Rights Act
From:    "Heidi Hess, CREDO Action" <act at credoaction.com>
Date:    Mon, January 18, 2016 6:59 am
To:      "Agnes S. Woolsey" <agnes at mcn.org>
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      [1]Itâ€™s time to fix the Voting Rights Act.

   The petition to Congress reads:
   â€œBecause of a disastrous Supreme Court ruling, the Voting Rights Act is
   weaker now than when it was passed 50 years ago. Fight to pass the Voting
   Rights Advancement Act, which would restore the Voting Rights Act and
   block new efforts to suppress African-American and Latino votes.â€

   Add your name:

   [2]Sign the petition â–º

   Dear Agnes,

                                                   [3]Fight for the Right to
                                                   Vote

   In 2013, the right-wing ideologues on the Supreme Court handed down a
   shameful decision that gutted the Voting Rights Act, ending decades of
   protection for minorities against discriminatory and unfair attempts to
   limit voting on the basis of race.

   Congress should have acted immediately to fix the damage inflicted by the
   Court â€“ but more than two years later it hasnâ€™t done a thing. Now,
   more than 50 years after civil rights activists put their lives on the
   line for the right to vote, state legislatures across the country are
   still passing laws to disenfranchise American voters.

   Fortunately, progressive champions in Congress are promoting legislation
   that will restore the Voting Rights Act. The Voting Rights Advancement Act
   would stop Republicans, in states around the country, from enacting racist
   voter ID and voter suppression laws.^1 With key federal, state and local
   elections taking place this November, we need to speak out now, demanding
   Congress crack down on racial discrimination in voting.

   [4]Tell Congress: Stop voter suppression and pass the Voting Rights
   Advancement Act. Click here to sign the petition.

   The Supreme Court threw out the Voting Rights Actâ€™s basic formula that
   had been used to determine where the Justice Department must provide
   pre-approval of local election rules that could suppress the votes of
   African-American and Latino citizens. Voter suppression rules can still be
   challenged by the Department of Justice after the fact, but â€œafter the
   factâ€ often means minority voters have already been blocked from the
   polls. The court's decision effectively guts the Voting Rights Act,
   rendering it nearly useless unless Congress updates the coverage formula
   for Section 5.

   Republicans wasted no time taking advantage of this ruling for electoral
   gain. Within hours of the Supreme Courtâ€™s decision, several states in
   the South immediately announced that they would pursue onerous new voter
   ID laws that were clearly designed to make it harder for African-Americans
   and Latinos to vote. All told, 395 voting restrictions have been passed at
   the state and local levels in the past five years alone.^2

   This year, over 100 progressive, civil rights, and social justice
   organizations have joined together to form a coalition that will push for
   fundamental reforms in voting rights and campaign finance as part of a
   year-long campaign called Democracy Awakening. We're supporting the
   efforts of these groups, which include the NAACP, Public Citizen,
   MoveOn.org, and the National Organization for Women, by putting Congress
   on notice right now that fixing our democracy will be a top priority for
   2016.

   [5]Tell Congress: Stop voter suppression and pass the Voting Rights
   Advancement Act. Click here to sign the petition.

   The Voting Rights Advancement Act would establish the strongest voting
   rights laws ever passed by Congress. It would require states with a
   history of recent voting discrimination to clear changes to voting laws
   with the Department of Justice, require any new state voter ID laws to be
   reviewed and approved by the federal government, and block new efforts to
   suppress African-American and Latino votes. Crucially, the bill would also
   give the U.S. attorney general the authority to send federal election
   observers to monitor elections in which thereâ€™s a risk of voting
   discrimination.

   If Congress doesnâ€™t act, the 2016 election will be the first
   presidential election in 50 years in which voters donâ€™t have the full
   protections of the Voting Rights Act. We need to pressure Congress to act
   now to stop racial discrimination in voting.

   Tell Congress: Stop voter suppression and pass the Voting Rights
   Advancement Act. Click the link below to sign the petition:

   [6]http://act.credoaction.com/sign/Congress_VRA?t=1001&akid=16552.23357.92pk9O

   Thanks for fighting to protect and expand voting rights,

   Heidi Hess, Senior Campaign Manager
   [7]CREDO Action from Working Assets

   Add your name:

   [8]Sign the petition â–º

   References:
   1. Ari Berman, [9]"Congressional Democrats Introduce an Ambitious New Bill
   to Restore the Voting Rights Act," The Nation, June 23, 2015.
   2. Ari Berman, [10]"50 Years After Bloody Sunday, Voting Rights Are Under
   Attack," The Nation, March 5, 2015.

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   1.
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