Rapid Response: Renew the Voting Rights Act
Momentum Resumes for the Fight to Renew the Voting Rights Act - House Vote Expected this WeekCall House Leaders and Your Representative Toll-Free to Urge Clean Passage of H.R. 9 July 11, 2006 – Congress has now returned to Washington after the July 4th recess and, thanks in part to the urging of constituents and community leaders like you, bipartisan supporters have resumed their efforts to pass the VRA bill (H.R. 9 / S. 2703). House leaders have said that they will bring H.R. 9 to the floor for a vote as soon as Thursday. Also on Thursday, it is expected that the Senate Judiciary Committee will begin its "mark up" (or consideration) of S. 2703. This may be one of the most critical weeks in the campaign to renew and restore the Voting Rights Act, and it will be vital that Congress hear from YOU at key times over the course of the week! The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) is providing a toll-free number (1-866-808-0065) that you can use throughout the week to contact Congress with your support for VRA renewal, and we encourage you to watch your email and visit www.RenewtheVRA.org for updates and action opportunities. WHAT YOU CAN DO TODAY:Because the House is poised to vote on H.R. 9, House leaders and your representative must hear from you today about the importance of passing H.R. 9 without amendment. While the VRA bill does enjoy bipartisan support, the fact remains that a small handful of extremist representatives who oppose key protections provided by the Act have previously tried to derail the bill's passage. We must ensure that these renegade members do not further stall renewal of the Voting Rights Act or attach to H.R. 9 any harmful amendments that would weaken the Act's protections!Call your representative today at 1-866-808-0065 to urge that s/he fully support H.R. 9 and oppose any amendments. Then use the same toll-free number to call Speaker Hastert, Majority Leader Boehner, and Minority Leader Pelosi to urge them to use their positions of leadership to ensure that H.R. 9 passes quickly without any amendments.
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Support NAACP in Renewal of Voting Rights Act
Dear MoveOn member, A group of Republicans in the Senate are preparing to hold up the re-authorization of the 1965 Voting Rights Act—the landmark legislation that prevents partisan officials from denying minorities their right to vote. If the VRA is not reauthorized soon, it will open the door to voter discrimination in some of the highest risk areas around the country. After the 8 hour lines, wrongly "purged" voter rolls and blatant intimidation many minority voters faced in Ohio and Florida in the last 2 elections, our nation cannot afford to make this problem any worse.Next week, the NAACP is bringing over 2000 volunteers to Washington D.C. to walk door to door in the Senate making the case for the Voting Rights Act. You can help.This morning, we're launching a petition asking the Senate to swiftly renew the Voting Rights Act. If you add your name now, we'll pass your signature and comments on to the NAACP volunteers to hand deliver to your Senators. Please sign today:http://www.political.moveon.org/votingrightsThe 1965 Voting Rights Act is one of the greatest accomplishments of the civil rights movement. It ended the Jim-Crow era poll taxes and "literacy tests" that had been used since the civil war to stop African Americans from voting. It forbids intimidating minority voters away from the polls, and bans drawing district lines to divide and diffuse minority votes.1Though most of Congress supports re-authorizing the VRA, a right-wing bloc of Republicans managed to derail the bill for over a month in the House,2 (a blockade that will finally end today).3 Now, the Voting Rights Act is headed to the Senate, where, as the AP is reporting, "The objections from House conservatives are being echoed by their colleagues across the Capitol."4 It's easier for a small group to stall things in the Senate, and a delay of even a few more weeks would push it off the Senate calendar for the rest of the year.If the VRA is not reauthorized, several key provisions will simply expire. These include the requirement to provide multi-lingual ballots in relevant areas and special scrutiny for states and counties with a clear history of voter discrimination. Perhaps most importantly, the law allowing the federal government to investigate in high risk areas when there is specific evidence of voter intimidation could be wiped off the books—simply by continuing to delay.5The NAACP, People for the American Way and other civil rights groups have made this their top priority, and they've asked us to join the fight. This petition will be unusually effective because we'll print out your signatures and comments and give them to NAACP volunteers to hand deliver to your Senators. This not only ensures that you will be heard right way, but it adds great power to the NAACP effort.Together, we can make sure that when those volunteers stand up in Washington, it will be clear to everyone they meet that they aren't standing alone. Please add your name today:http://www.political.moveon.org/votingrightsThanks for all that you do,–Ben, Tanya, Marika, Carrie and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team Thursday, July 3rd 2006P.S. We're working with Color of Change, our sister organization that uses the internet to to empower Black Americans and their allies to make government more responsive to the concerns of Black Americans, as part of a broad-based effort to protect every American's right to vote. Reauthorizing the VRA is a key piece in this protection, but there's much more to be done.You can learn more or sign up for Color of Change yourself, at: http://www.colorofchange.orgP.P.S For more information about the NAACP volunteer drive (or to join it yourself) go to http://www.naacp.org