On anniversary of Voting Rights Act, leaders call for new push

Marking the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, political and civil rights leaders gathered in Atlanta on Tuesday to call for Congress to restore some of the laws’ key tenets that were struck down two years ago.

"I tell you, we have a fight on our hands. I happen to think we're too quiet," said U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights leader and one of the most influential Democrats in Congress when it comes to voting rights. He's among those in Congress backing a bill to restore the lost provisions. "We have to speak up, to speak out, to find a way to get in the way, to get in trouble, good trouble and necessary trouble."

He was joined by the Rev. Joseph Lowery, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Ambassador Andrew Young, Martin Luther King III, Mayor Kasim Reed and others. The meeting, which was held at the historic Wheat Street Baptist Church on Auburn Avenue and drew more than 100 people, was organized by King’s nonprofit, Realizing the Dream, and The Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda.

The event comes five decades after President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law on Aug. 6, 1965. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down key provisions of that act in 2013, however, effectively ruling that states with a history of voter suppression no longer needed approval from the U.S. Department of Justice before changing election laws.

The court said the formula for “pre-clearance,” or approval from the Department of Justice, was unconstitutional and outdated, but that Congress could come up with a new formula. In 2006, there was overwhelming bipartisan support for renewing the Voting Rights Act. But, since the Supreme Court struck down pre-clearance in 2013, Republican leaders have blocked efforts to revive it.

Republicans in Georgia and elsewhere have argued that the Voting Rights Act remains strong enough to ensure minorities aren’t disenfranchised. They have also said that pre-clearance is too intrusive.

But Reed said on Tuesday that the Supreme Court's move, coupled with the 2010 Citizens United decision that helped allow for independent political groups to spend unlimited funds on candidates and causes, are "lethal and having such extraordinary consequences" on minority communities.

He called for the public to send “a political message that punishes any politician” who will not sign onto the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2015, a bill that would restore certain pre-clearance rules and oversight to Georgia and other states with a history of running afoul of the Voting Rights Act.

Reed said Democratic presidential candidates must take on the issue.

“Any Democrat that’s running for the presidency of the United States … has got to talk about what they’re going to do about reauthorizing voting rights in the United States of America,” he said.

Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp came out against a previous version of the bill backed by Lewis, arguing in a 2014 letter to the state's congressional delegation that federal election laws should be applied consistently.

“The proposed legislation ignores the tremendous progress that Georgia and the rest of the nation have made in the past 50 years and seeks to reinstate an outdated and obsolete formula that would cost Georgia taxpayers a significant amount in time, resources and money,” he wrote.

Jackson, a civil rights leader who heads the Rainbow Push Coalition, called for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that guarantees the right to vote for all citizens — a matter that he noted is now generally under state purview. Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley announced on Tuesday that he, too, supports such a measure. Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton supports similar efforts.

Jackson also decried what he sees as efforts in the South to gerrymander so that white Democrats are less likely to win, while minorities are relegated to specific districts.

“Every state has its own deal, and therefore each state has a scheme to undermine the vote,” he warned.

Lowery, another leader in the Civil Rights Movement, made a rare appearance at Tuesday’s event. Now 93 and using a wheelchair, Lowery came to life when the microphone was placed in his hand. He cracked jokes about his age, shared stories about President Barack Obama and urged those in the crowd to remain committed to the goal of the 1965 voting rights achievement.