Call senators, they should vote this week on Voting Rights Act

[Guest guest]

Your senators should be voting this week on renewal of the Voting Rights

Act. Please call your senators now and urge them to pass this critical

bipartisan legislation before they shut Congress down for their August break.

Tell

them to reject any amendments that would weaken voter protections.

 

Call your senators toll free now:

1-866-808-0065

We hear several senators are planning to offer amendments this week to water

down the Voting Rights Act extension—gutting protections for voters in states

with a history of discrimination and those who need language help, cutting

the duration of the extension more than in half and possibly requiring voters

to present government identification.

With caustic amendments like these, a group of southern House Republicans

hijacked the legislation for three weeks before the House passed it last week in

a solid 390–33 vote.

Don’t let extremists hijack the Voting Rights Act extension in the Senate.

Today, please call your senators and tell them to pass the Voting Rights Act

extension now and reject any weakening amendments.

Call toll free now:

1-866-808-0065

The bill before the Senate—S. 2703, formally known as the Fannie Lou Hamer,

Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and

Amendments Act—would extend key voting rights protections for 25 years—

protections requiring language assistance for those who need it to cast their

ballots

and enabling the federal government to review changes in voting rules in

states with a history of discrimination.

Opponents claim voting rights problems don’t exist anymore in America. They

must not read the newspapers. Officials in El Paso County, Colo., and the

state of Georgia, for example, have been trying to bar voters lacking

government

IDs or proof of citizenship from the voting booth—an attack that would

disenfranchise many immigrants, people of color, older Americans and people with

disabilities. These aren’t problems of yesteryear—these voting rights

problems

are alive and kicking today.

Although the Voting Rights Act extension has strong bipartisan support, we

expect a vicious campaign to destroy it by extremist senators. Please don’t

let

another day go by before telling your senators to vote for the Voting Rights

Act with no weakening amendments.

Call your senators—the call is free:

1-866-808-0065

Together, we can make sure no one is unfairly denied the right to vote. Thank

you for taking action.

In solidarity,

Working Families e-Activist Network, AFL-CIO