Next week, the NAACP is bringing over 2000 volunteers to Washington D.C. to walk door to door in the Senate making the case for the Voting Rights Act. You can help.

This morning, we're launching a petition asking the Senate to swiftly renew the Voting Rights Act. If you add your name now, we'll pass your signature and comments on to the NAACP volunteers to hand deliver to your Senators--making it clear that they come to Washington representing thousands of us back home.

Sign today

After the 8 hour lines, wrongly "purged" voter rolls and blatant intimidation many minority voters faced in Ohio and Florida in the last 2 elections, our nation cannot afford to make this problem any worse.

The 1965 Voting Rights Act is one of the greatest accomplishments of the civil rights movement. But if it's not reauthorized, several key provisions will simply expire. These include the requirement to provide multi-lingual ballots in relevant areas and special scrutiny for states and counties with a clear history of voter discrimination. Perhaps most importantly, the law allowing the federal government to investigate in high risk areas when there is specific evidence of voter intimidation could be wiped off the books--simply by continuing to delay.3

The NAACP, People for the American Way and other civil rights groups have made this their top priority, and they've asked us to join the fight. This petition will be unusually effective because we'll print out your signatures and comments and give them to NAACP volunteers to hand deliver to your Senators. This not only ensures that you will be heard right way, but it adds great power to the NAACP effort.

Together, we can make sure that when those volunteers stand up in Washington, it will be clear to everyone they meet that we are standing together. Please add your name today:

Add your name

Thanks for all that you do,

-Ben, Tanya, Marika, Carrie and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
  Thursday, July 3rd 2006

P.S. We're working with Color of Change, our sister organization that uses the internet to to empower Black Americans and their allies to make government more responsive to the concerns of Black Americans, as part of a broad-based effort to protect every American's right to vote. Reauthorizing the VRA is a key piece in this protection, but there's much more to be done.

You can learn more or sign up for Color of Change yourself, at: Color for change

P.P.S For more information about the NAACP volunteer drive (or to join it yourself) go to NAACP

Sources:

1. "Voting Rights Act Renewal Divides GOP," Los Angeles Times, July 12, 2006
LA Times article

2. This what we're hearing from the Civil Rights Community, and what has been reported in the media. As the AP put it: "The objections from House conservatives are being echoed by their colleagues across the Capitol."
"House Takes Up Voting Rights Act Renewal," Associated Press, July 13, 2006
HOuse takes up Voting Rights Renewal

3. People for the American Way has produced a great fact sheet on what's at stake in the Voting Rights Act re-authorization
People for the American Way