U.S. Sen. Laphonza Butler on Friday said that democracy is at risk, urging for voting protections to be enforced ahead of the presidential election in November.
The California Democrat made the call in Montgomery, Alabama, at a hearing about protecting voting rights for Americans, particularly those in marginalized communities.
“The very sense of our democracy is at stake” if protections are not honored, Butler told theGrio.
“We must continue to do everything that we can to strengthen the franchise for voters and voters of color all across the country.”
Butler hosted the hearing, “Modern-Day Voting Discrimination in Alabama,” with LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter; Major Shalela Dowdy, founding president of “Stand up Mobile,” a nonprofit organization that focuses on voter engagement; and Laurel Hattix, staff attorney at the ACLU of Alabama.
The discussion sought to combat the latest incidents of voter discrimination in the southern state and efforts to restore federal protections for voters of color across the nation.
“People are still restricting the right to vote for Black and brown people. This is not something of the past and this hearing proved that,” Molly McGrath, senior advisor on democracy at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), told theGrio.
Kareem Crayton, senior director of voting rights and representation with the Brennan Center for Justice, told theGrio that it is important that the senator is having hearings “in the places where it will have the greatest impact.”
“It’s also important that we hear from the people who live in these jurisdictions who can talk about the effects of not having voting rights protections,” he added. “It’s important that their voices be heard.”
Alabama has a fraught history of discriminatory voting practices.
Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court found that Alabama’s congressional redistricting maps discriminated…
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