Students from seven historically black colleges and universities in North Carolina organized to spread the importance of voting in local elections through get-out-to-vote rallies on their campuses. HBCU Democracy Fellows with Common Cause NC helped organize students in planning marches to the polls at Shaw University and Saint Augustine's University, with similar marches held at NC Central University, NC A&T State University, Bennett College and Fayetteville State University.
"The message that our Democracy Fellows took to their classmates and the greater community was that voting in local elections is just as important as voting for president," said Alyssa Canty, college outreach coordinator with Common Cause NC.
In recent years, lawmakers have introduced new voter restrictions impacting 23 states that have a history of voter suppression before the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, the federal law was established to enforce voter rights for Black people in America that were threatened by legal barriers on the state and local levels. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, the new voter rights amendments put in place after 2010 impacts almost half of the United States with more restrictive voter laws which include "six states having strict photo ID requirements, seven have laws making it harder for citizens to register, another six states cut back on early voting days and hours, and three made it harder to restore voting rights for people with past criminal convictions."
Watch the full video of HBCU students mobilizing voters in North Carolina at
https://firelightmedia.us1.list-manage.com... Common Cause North Carolina is a Raleigh-based nonprofit and nonpartisan organization dedicated to encouraging citizen participation in democracy.
Posted By: Reginald Culpepper
Tuesday, December 5th 2017 at 3:41PM
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