FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: CJ Frogozo, CJ@FitzGibbonMedia.com, 310 570 2622

Robinson Highlights What Decision Means for Democracy New York – Today the Supreme Court of the United States issued a decision in Shelby County v. Holder, ultimately striking down, Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 – a key provision of the landmark civil rights law that designates which parts of the country must have changes to their voting laws precleared. In response, Rashad Robinson, Executive Director of ColorOfChange.org, issued the following statement:

“The Supreme Court just handed down a decision that puts a signature accomplishment of the Civil Rights Movement: the Voting Rights Act of 1965 on hold — placing millions of people of color, women and young people at the mercy of a dysfunctional Congress. Section 4 is a critical protection because it sets the formula for which states are subject to federal preclearance. By striking down this key provision, the Court has stripped our defense against right-wing attacks on our ability to vote and stolen the hard-fought gains of a generation. While appalling, this decision is hardly surprising because it is just one piece of a broader coordinated right-wing attack on voting freedom.

The Court is drastically out of touch with the reality of elections in this country. When it was discussed during oral arguments that Congress reauthorized the Voting Rights Act nearly unanimously in 2006, Justice Antonin Scalia scoffed, calling it ‘a perpetuation of racial entitlement.’ It is no coincidence, that at the height of Black civic participation, with Black voters going to the polls at higher rates than any other group in 2012, that the extreme right wing is working to make it harder for people of color to vote.

So many states, year-after-year, push new laws making it harder to vote and at least two conservative Supreme Court Justices, today, signaled a willingness to gut the Voting Rights Act entirely by also overturning section 5. Now is the time for more comprehensive measures to solve the problems with our election infrastructure so that these conservative attacks on our freedom to vote stop. Most Americans are surprised to learn that there is no provision in the Constitution or federal law that affirmatively guarantees all citizens the freedom to vote.

Having a constitutional freedom to vote would protect citizens against the continued partisan efforts to manipulate voting laws. With a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the freedom to vote, these kinds of bills would never move forward. It would also provide uniform national standards for elections.

We need a constitutional amendment that guarantees the freedom to vote for every citizen regardless of race and that protects against attempts to disenfranchise voters regardless of where they live. The freedom to vote is essential to American democracy and any attempt by government or corporations to limit that freedom is fundamentally in opposition to the principles we hold dear.”

Today the group also launched the website FreeToVote.org to build a broad movement for everyday citizens to pledge their support for an amendment that enshrines the freedom to vote in the United States Constitution. ColorOfChange.org with other partners will provide a roadmap to expand voter participation that will build a movement around various local, state and federal opportunities for voting reform.

###

With more than 850,000 members, ColorOfChange.org is the nation’s largest online civil rights organization.