Legislators around the nation have been working to strip or severely restrict the right of their fellow Americans to vote. They claim to be preventing voter fraud. They deny that their goal is to suppress the votes of people of color, students, the elderly, and the poor. The truth is their efforts amount to nothing more than a scheme to undo generations of work securing the voting rights for all Americans. The NAACP and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund have released an important new report on the relationship between the historic levels of participation in the 2008 election and the new voter suppression bills proposed and passed by legislatures around the country. The report removes any doubt about our opponents' intent, and we must not ignore this attack.
Take a moment to read the report and find out the truth. Then make sure your friends and family know about it too:
http://action.naacp.org/defending-democracy-report
The report, "Defending Democracy: Confronting Modern Barriers to Voting Rights in America," provides indisputable evidence of a coordinated attack intended to silence the communities who turned out in record-breaking numbers in 2008: young people and communities of color. The report exposes the reasons why new stringent voter ID requirements, bans on the formerly incarcerated -- people who have already paid their debt to society -- and suppressive rules on voter registration and early voting periods are being pursued.
In short, these laws threaten to undermine the record levels of political participation witnessed during the historic 2008 Presidential election by blocking access to millions of people, many of them our most vulnerable citizens. And it's no coincidence that this comprehensive assault was launched just in time to affect the 2012 election.
You can find full details of the voter suppression initiatives in the report. More importantly, the report provides a roadmap for our communities to begin to actively counter these block-the-vote efforts. "Defending Democracy" is eye opening, and serves as the backbone for our Stand For Freedom Rally at the United Nations in New York City on December 10th. Please take a moment to download the report and spread the word to friends and family:
http://action.naacp.org/defending-democracy-report
Today we face one of the biggest threats to civil rights in over a century. If these powerful forces capture our right to vote, the other rights we care so deeply about -- education, health care, equality for all -- could be at risk.
Thank you in advance for learning more about this crucial issue and taking action in your community.
Yours in justice,
Kim
Kim Michele Keenan, Esq.
General Counsel
NAACP