Community Leaders
League ID
Stories from Around the State
Voting is a fundamental right. Yet voters with disabilities face persistent barriers to casting a ballot.
Fortunately, these barriers can be challenged under Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA), which requires that states allow people with disabilities to receive assistance in the voting process.
This story was originally published by USA Today
States across the South are passing new restrictions on how votes are cast. Civil rights activists say it will reduce turnout among Black voters.
GULFPORT, Miss. — Voting and disability rights advocates are asking to intervene in a lawsuit filed by the Mississippi Republican Party and Republican National Committee that seeks to overturn a Mississippi law that allows for people voting absentee to mail ballots up until Election Day, and to have those ballots counted if they’re postmarked by Election Day and received within five business days after.
From Supreme Court decisions to voting rights legislation, 2023 was a busy year for our democracy. But how closely were you paying attention?
JACKSON, Miss. — The League of Women Voters of the US, the League of Women Voters of Mississippi, the Mississippi Center for Justice, One Voice, Mississippi Votes, Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP, Black Voters Matter, Mississippi Poor People’s Campaign, Reaching and Educating for Community Hope (RECH) Foundation, Strong Arms of Mississippi, Mississippi Prison Reform Coalition, People’s Advocacy Institute, and the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, filed an amicus brief late Wednesday in Hopkins v. Watson, urging the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to declare Mississippi’s lifetime felony disenfranchisement law — Section 241 — cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the US Constitution. The groups are represented by pro bono attorneys Matthew Sloan, Lauren Aguiar, Shaud Tavakoli, Daniel Bleiberg, Andrew Karp, and Kathleen Shelton.
This story was originally published in Mississippi Today.
A coalition of civic and legal organizations on Thursday called for the Hinds County Election Commission to provide clear answers to voters on why numerous voting precincts in the state’s most populous county ran out of ballots during the Nov. 7 election.
The group, which includes organizations like Mississippi Votes and the League of Women Voters, told the media that some of the consortium’s representatives have attempted to schedule a meeting with the election commissioners, but the county rejected that request.