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VOTING RIGHTS from Page 1
Five months later, Johnson posed to get rid of those perceived barriers have stalled. Linda Thornton Thomas, president of the Prince George’s County NAACP branch, suggested putting voting rights within the U.S. Constitution. We have all sorts of these rights signed the Voting Rights Act. “Today is a triumph of freedom – as huge as any victory that’s ever been won on any battlefield,” Johnson said to Congress after signing the bill. “Yet, to seize the meaning of this day, we must recall darker times.” we live with but the most important part of our rights is voting,” DID SUPREME COURT she said. “Some people say, ‘Nothing will change.’ It may not but at least you have a voice and can do BRING DARKNESS BACK INTO VOTING something about it. Doing noth- RIGHTS? ing presents no changes. Voting is Based on the 2013 Shelby Counone of the few fundamental rights ty v. Holder case, the U.S. Supreme where everyone can have a say in Court voted 5-4 that restricted the what they want.” U.S. Justice Department to assess
Prior to the Voting Rights Act and preapprove any election changbeing signed nearly 57 years ago es from states with a history of disby Johnson, Blacks traveled to the crimination. This allowed states to ballot box and selected officials who immediately alter, and which votsought municipal, county, state and ing advocates say, approve restricfederal offices. tive voting laws.
In the early 1960s, several south- Then in July 2021, a vote by the ern states includ- majority consering Alabama, vative Supreme Georgia, Missis- Court essentially sippi and Texas Two other laws gutted the Votpassed laws such as a poll tax and still remain under ing Rights Act to ban the collecliteracy tests which made it discussion: tion of absentee ballots (except more difficult for Blacks to the John Lewis by a relative or caregiver) and vote. Voting Rights throw out ballots The late Rep. John Lewis, Advancement Act cast in the wrong precinct. then a 25-yearold activist, led and the Freedom The lawsuit came from Arhundreds of people over the to Vote Act. izona Republicans and the Edmond Pettus Republican NaBridge in Sel- tional Commitma, Alabama, to tee who argued peacefully pro- the court’s detest voting dis- cision prevents crimination and voter fraud. It the murder of now rests with Jimmie Lee Johnson, a 26-year-old Congress to approve voting rights church deacon and activist. legislation.
White state troopers and local po- In 2021, Rep. Paul Sarbanes lice, some on horseback, greeted Lew- (D-Maryland) sponsored compreis and others with night sticks and hensive legislation called “For the tear gas. That day, March 6, 1965, People Act” to expand voting rights became known as “Bloody Sunday.” and reduce money in politics. And
LBJ Signs Voting Rights Act, Aug. 6, 1965
5 Vice President Kamala Harris talks about the importance of this year’s November general election July 22 during the National Urban League convention in Northwest. (Robert R. Roberts/The Washington Informer) 5 Former Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey, who won the Democratic nomination July 19 to represent the 4th Congressional District, speaks at a press conference June 30. (Robert R. Roberts/The Washington Informer)
while the House approved it last year the Senate – which remains evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans – rejected it.
Two other laws still remain under discussion: the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act.
The House approved the two acts both of which died in January on the Senate floor due to a Republican filibuster, which stymied previous voting rights bills from passing.
“Unfortunately, the Senate is a roadblock to that legislation,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland), a longtime colleague and friend of Lewis, said in an interview Monday, Aug. 1.
“Voting has been central to an individual’s ability to participate in democracy and having their voice heard . . . on policy and future actions that their country would take,” he said. “John Lewis knew that was central. He knew it was central to the dignity of an American. Without the vote, you were not a full American. You were a marginal American.”
The Lewis act would reestablish the “preclearance” law for the Justice Department to review any voting changes made by states, especially those with history of racial discrimination.
The Freedom act seeks to strengthen national standards for voting options and eliminate barriers against Black and Latino voters, undocumented citizens who pay taxes and those with disabilities.
Glenn Ivey, who won the Democratic nomination to represent the 4th Congressional District with portions of Prince George’s and Montgomery counties, said those two measures are necessary to protect voting rights for people of color.
For instance, the GOP-controlled legislature in Texas approved voting measures last year including: requiring voters to show a driver’s license or write down the last four digits of their Social Security number on a ballot; ban distribution of unsolicited mail-in ballots; and poll watchers “may not be denied free movement where election activity is occurring ….”
A decision has not been made in a lawsuit filed by the Justice Department last year against the state of Georgia for its newly-approved law that rejects civic groups and others to give food or water to voters waiting in line.
“The John Sarbanes bill and others are aimed at refurbishing the voting rights act and providing additional protections,” Ivey said. “But in the meantime, we’ve got to win these fights in the state legislatures and make sure that we block efforts to roll back the voting rights that we earned during the civil rights era and beyond. We have to fight this on all fronts and use every angle that we can.”
Because of the current filibuster rules in the Senate, at least 10 Republicans must agree with the 50 Democrats to approve any voting measures.
Vice President Kamala Harris, attending a National Urban League conference last month at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Northwest, stressed voters need to elect “two” Democratic senators to ensure passage of the John Lewis and Freedom acts.
“We can pass that federal legislation to deal with the fact that you’ve got these extremist, so-called-leaders in places like Georgia, Florida, Texas, who are intentionally trying to make it more difficult for people to vote so they don’t vote,” Harris said. “I would encourage all of the local leaders to remind people of why these elections matter because they do.” WI @WJFjabariwill
RECESSION from Page 15
bringing inflation down without giving up all the economic gains we have made,” Biden said. “Congress has a historic chance to do that by passing the CHIPS and Science Act and Inflation Reduction At without delay.”
Still, corporations have experienced a decline in sales and earnings during recessions and continue to fear what may come. According to reports, the average U.S. corporation’s after-tax profit margin is around 16 percent.
In traditional recessions, the rate drops down to single digits. Meanwhile, those corporations are collectively sitting on a record level of over $4 trillion in cash.
“Companies may have raised these funds during the era of easy money and low-interest rates over the past decade,” Vishesh Raisinghani wrote for Yahoo Finance. “Now, this cash is acting as a buffer and could allow companies to retain staff despite the economic slowdown.”
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(Courtesy photo) RUSSELL from Page 8
President Barack Obama presented the Medal of Freedom in 2011, and Russell won five NBA Most Valuable Player awards.
He made the All-Star team in 12 of the 13 years he played in the league. The prolific big man finished his career in 1969 with 21,620 career rebounds, an average of 22.5 per game, and led the league in rebounding four times.
He grabbed 51 rebounds in one game, 49 in two others, and a dozen consecutive seasons of 1,000 or more rebounds.
Many viewed Russell as the greatest player in history until Michael Jordan arrived in the 1980s and 1990s and Lebron James in the 2000s.
Born in Monroe, Louisiana, in 1934, Russell’s family moved to the San Francisco area, where he attended McClymonds High School in Oakland.
He earned a scholarship to play at the University of San Francisco and helped lead the basket-
5 Bill Russell. (Courtesy photo) ball school to an astounding 56 straight wins and back-to-back NCAA titles.
As noted by ESPN, Russell was most visible as a color commentator on televised basketball games for CBS with Rick Barry.
Russell later explained in a newspaper article that he never found a comfort zone behind the microphone.
“The most successful television is done in eight-second thoughts, and the things I know about basketball, motivation, and people go deeper than that,” Russell told the Sacramento Bee.
In 1974, Russell earned election to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. In 1980, he was voted Greatest Player in the History of the NBA by the Professional Basketball Writers Association of America.
He was part of the 75th Anniversary Team announced by the NBA in October 2021.
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NATIONAL
Sentencing Project Report Seeks to ‘Unlock the Vote’ in America's Jails
5 Increasingly, officials recognize that establishing a polling location will improve voter access and turnout far better than jailbased absentee voting initiatives. (Photo courtesy The Sentencing Project)
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According to a report from The Sentencing Project, current jailbased voter programs that rely on absentee voting often experience various logistical challenges.
Increasingly, advocates and officials recognize that establishing a polling location will improve voter access and turnout far better than jail-based absentee voting initiatives.
Sentencing Project researchers pointed to when after the Cook County jail in Illinois was turned into a polling location, approximately 2,200 people were able to cast their ballot.
“Every year, hundreds of thousands of eligible incarcerated voters are unable to cast their ballot due to misinformation, institutional bureaucracy and de-prioritization among government officials,” said Durrel Douglas, author of the report and jailbased voting initiative organizer with The Sentencing Project.
“This [report] provides many case studies that can help advocates increase ballot access for incarcerated voters and help jail officials and lawmakers expand ballot access in jails,” Douglas said. “Our democracy works best when everyone eligible to vote can make their voice heard.”
Researchers observed that the vast majority of those incarcerated are eligible to vote because they are not currently serving a sentence for a felony conviction but are incarcerated pretrial or sentenced to a misdemeanor offense.
But incarcerated voters often experience significant barriers to voting because of misinformation, the institutional bureaucracy that varies from one county or city to another and de-prioritization among government officials, the researchers concluded. They said most states have underdeveloped practices for people incarcerated in prisons and jails to register or access absentee ballots or polling locations.
Further, the report noted that many incarcerated residents could not freely communicate via phone or email with election officials to monitor their voter registration or ballot applications.
The authors insisted that voter education for justice-impacted citizens is often limited and varies across states, resulting in too many Americans being left behind each election season.
They said recent reforms and a growing civic infrastructure offer opportunities to strengthen voting access and ensure the franchise for every individual, regardless of incarceration status.
“We, as an organization, would hope that every jail would either support a polling location in their facility in partnership with the local Board of Elections and/or enable and support absentee voting systems,” said Kristen Powers, executive director of the Benevolence Farm.
The rural North Carolina-based nonprofit supports formerly-incarcerated women by providing housing, employment and wrap-
VOTE IN JAILS Page 19
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VOTE IN JAILS from Page 18
around services.
Benevolence Farm also co-operates a Bail Fund that serves individuals incarcerated in the local detention center on low-level bonds of up to $2,000.
“Elected officials and the policies they implement affect incarcerated people every day. Incarcerated people are most proximate to the problem and, thus, should have input on the solution,” Powers wrote in an email. “Furthermore, they are taxpayers and we firmly believe there should be no taxation without representation for all people in our country.”
The Sentencing Project researchers said lawmakers and citizens could work with political candidates to host candidate forums at local jails.
During the 2021 election cycle in Michigan, Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson and the IGNITE (Inmate Growth Naturally and Intentionally Through Education) program co-hosted a candidates’ forum for residents at the jail. More than 20 city council candidates attended the “Meet the Candidates’’ town hall, where residents at the prison and candidates discussed ways to improve public education and support reentry programs.
According to the Sentencing Project’s report, America’s mass incarceration problem has led to record levels of disenfranchisement.
However, researchers found that many justice-impacted residents, including those in pretrial jail detention, incarcerated in certain states on a probation or parole violation, or sentenced for a misdemeanor, are eligible to vote while in jail.
“Yet even when the law permits certain individuals to vote while incarcerated, many remain unable to vote because of obstacles to electoral participation, including lack of polling places and an inability to register to vote,” researchers wrote.
They noted that individuals in jail are also often reluctant to exercise the franchise due to fear and lack of awareness.
Democracy advocates and stakeholders must include incarcerated voters in their democracy initiatives to improve voting in jail practices.
“With the end of felony disenfranchisement in Washington, D.C., and the introduction of similar measures to expand voting to all persons with felony convictions in other states, building the infrastructure for democratic participation in local jails not only expands voter access to strengthen our democracy, it can also help guarantee ballot access for all incarcerated citizens in the United States,” the researchers asserted.
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5 Inmates excersize their voice. (Courtesy photo)
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