Edwards Celebrates 50th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 6, 2015

Contact: Dan Weber

(202) 225-8699

 

Edwards Celebrates 50^th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act

 

Calls for immediate Congressional action to pass new VRA after the Roberts Court struck down a portion of the law in 2013.

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Donna F. Edwards (MD-4) released the following statement celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the historic Voting Rights Act (VRA), signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on August 6, 1965.  

“Today we celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), a historic law that helped make the fundamental right to vote accessible to millions of Americans,” Edwards said.  “With a stroke of President Johnson’s pen, the VRA ended years of systemic and blatant practices aimed at keeping African Americans and other minority groups from registering to vote and casting their ballots. 

“However, I celebrate today with mixed emotions after the Roberts Court struck down a key provision of the VRA in 2013.   The justices who wrote the majority opinion inconceivably proclaimed that the VRA had done its job, and was no longer necessary.  This could not be further from the truth.  Across the country, we are seeing renewed efforts to adopt policies, designed to primarily impact minority groups, aimed at discouraging an individual’s ability to vote.  In our democracy, we should be celebrating our right to vote and lowering obstacles to do so.  Instead, we are seeing unnecessary voter ID laws, cuts to early voting periods, and restrictions on same-day registration being passed in states throughout the country.  Congress must restore the critical protections of the VRA, and I call on House Republicans to bring this legislation to the floor immediately.“