Forty-seven years ago today, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law. The passage of this law marked a huge victory for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and so many civil and voting rights activists who sacrificed their safety—and sometimes their lives—to make sure that voting was accessible to all eligible American citizens.
Now, almost half a century later, the right to vote is under siege once again by partisan officials digging for ways to work around, and even attack, the core tenants of the Voting Rights Act. The result? The right to vote is still not guaranteed for all Americans.
Though the current assault is the worst we’ve seen in decades, these kinds of threats to our democracy aren’t new. For decades—indeed since the passage of the law in 1965—we’ve seen restrictive laws, voter roll purges, and outright voter suppression activities aimed at preventing minority communities from voting. Voter ID in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Faulty purges in Florida. A constitutional amendment in Minnesota. The list goes on.
Today, on the anniversary of this historic law, you can help us expand our voter protection programs and strengthen our ability to help more Americans register and vote in 2012.
With your help, we can win these fights. Just a few days ago, a U.S. District Court judge ruled in favor of Project Vote and our affiliate Voting for America, ordering the state of Texas to stop enforcing harmful laws that severely restricted voter registration efforts. Because of this victory, Project Vote and organizations across Texas will be able to help the millions of unregistered, voting-eligible Texans register to vote in 2012 and the years to come.
And that lawsuit in Texas is just one of many Project Vote projects underway right now—and one of many possible victories that will turn the tide of voter suppression, and protect the democratic ideals for which Dr. King and the voting rights activists of the 1960’s fought.
Help us expand the 2012 electorate and protect the voting rights of all law-abiding Americans.