Washington – Today, Advancement Project’s national office, a multi-racial civil rights organization, launched a new website, NationalRightToVote.org, which will be the online home of the ongoing grassroots fight for the right to vote.
“Despite the many victories of generations of civil rights leaders and grassroots fighters before us, the structures of racism that kept our ancestors from the ballot are still preventing many people of color from voting today,” said Judith Browne Dianis, Executive Director of Advancement Project’s national office. “However, the fight – and hope – lives on where it matters most: On the ground. It lives on in emerging Black leaders connecting police terrorism to a broader effort to silence African Americans. It lives on in the multi-racial effort to erase the legacy of Jim Crow by rolling back barriers to the ballot for people with past felony convictions. And it lives in cutting-edge, community-led litigation for the right to vote in one of the bastions of the Confederacy. The fight for the right to vote is pushing forward; this tool will uplift the latest and brightest work and ideas that will make it a reality.”
NationalRightToVote.org will highlight important work on the right to vote around the country and will provide curated information such as analysis of voting laws, original blog content, scholarly articles, campaign updates, and influential news articles. Increasingly, the website will be equipped with tools for organizers and supporters looking to become active in the fight for the right to vote.
“Ever since this country was founded, access to the ballot has been intentionally restricted in order to silence the voices of people of color,” said Donita Judge, co-director of Advancement Project’s Power and Democracy program, which advocates for the right to vote and works to remove barriers to the ballot. “The optics of the fight for the right to vote may look different now. But the dogs and police batons in polling places have been replaced by bureaucrats in suits overtly attempting to suppress the votes of people of color.”
Aside from showcasing key efforts for the right to vote on the ground, initial content on the website contextualizes the history of the right to vote. The portal also offers important readings on the issue, and an entry delves into why the right to vote is a pressing tool in the fight against voter suppression.
“It is impossible to decouple the increased visibility that the Movement for Black Lives has brought to the ongoing struggle for freedom and liberation from the backlash among conservatives opposed to voting rights,” said Denise Lieberman, Co-Director of Advancement Project’s Power and Democracy program and coordinator of the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition. “In Missouri, the Ferguson uprising, which led to dramatically increased organizing and engagement in Black communities, was met with a crackdown on voting rights. As we resist further constraints on access to the ballot, we are aware of the connection with a broader fight for the right to vote.”
Read more about our work on the right to vote – and share it – by visiting at NationalRightToVote.org.
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Advancement Project is a multi-racial civil rights organization. Founded by a team of veteran civil rights lawyers in 1999, Advancement Project was created to develop and inspire community-based solutions based on the same high quality legal analysis and public education campaigns that produced the landmark civil rights victories of earlier eras.