Fighting Voter Suppression
The pro-voter Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006 moved quickly through Congress with strong bipartisan support. The speed of passage showed our country’s bipartisan support of voting rights, support which has dwindled in recent years -- as seen with the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
A federal judge has ordered the Baltimore County Council to scrap its redistricting plan after a lawsuit brought by Black residents and civil-rights groups said it violates the Voting Rights Act.
HOUSTON — With less than two days until Texas’ primary election, Cedric and Myrtis Tatterson sat in a community center gym in Houston to fulfill the training required of them as election judges.
The League sent a letter to the White House outlining the issues that we hope President Biden will touch on during the State of the Union.
As we celebrate Black history and commemorate many great leaders — both the known and unsung heroes of our time — we must also remember that the struggle to protect voting rights continues.
In the federal court challenge to an illegal redistricting plan, brought by Black voters in Baltimore County and several civil rights organizations, Federal Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby granted a preliminary injunction blocking implementation of the County’s plan and ordering them to submit a new plan that complies with the Voting Rights Act by March 8.
On March 3, 2022, from 12-1 ET, LWV hosted a discussion featuring voices and perspectives of the League of Women Voters, SuperMajority, LULAC, and Black Voters Matter.
We covered the intersection of gender and race in the voting rights movement, fighting deliberate barriers to voting, and how to build community power, dismantle disinformation, and get out the vote in 2022.
For Houston-area retiree Pam Gaskin, voting is a ritual that starts every January when she completes her application for an absentee mail ballot. This year, the 74-year-old printed the application on January 3, filled it out and mailed it to her local election office. Days later, a rejection letter arrived: The forms she had pulled from the county's website no longer complied with Texas law.
On February 14, 2022, the League celebrated its 102nd anniversary. In addition to events hosted by Leagues across the country, LWVUS hosted a virtual rally uniting us as One League Together, during which we celebrated over a century of accomplishments with words, song, and purple and gold pom-poms.
From Ida B. Wells to Stacey Abrams, Black women have played a pivotal role in the advancement of voting rights. Although there have been obstacles along the way, Black women as a collective power are a force to be reckoned with. While Black women are not a monolith in any shape or form, they have and continue to use their voices to make progress on many issues, especially voting rights.