The Battle Wages on: Securing Equal Voting Rights in the United States

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. ADAMS. Thank you, Congresswoman Kelly, for your leadership. I appreciate what you are doing very much. Certainly, it is something that we need to do, and we must do.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to stress the importance of equal voting rights for everyone. Just over a week ago, I traveled to Selma with several of my colleagues to retrace the steps of those who shed blood as they tried, again, to gain equal access to the ballot box.

As a professor for 40 years at Bennett College in North Carolina, I made sure that the students that passed through my classroom and our campus knew just how important it was to have their voices heard, and to this day, students know: ``Bennett Belles are voting belles.''

In 2013, the Supreme Court struck down a major provision of the Voting Rights Act limiting Federal oversight over State voting laws. Sadly, my home State of North Carolina quickly implemented voting laws that disenfranchise voters by making cuts to early voting, reenforcing strict ID requirements, and ending some preregistration programs which did not allow young high school students to be able to register to vote.

As I think about those who risked their lives in order to exercise their right to vote, I cannot believe that 50 years later, in 2015, that simple freedom given to us in the Constitution is still under attack.

It is time for all of us, Mr. Speaker, to come together to restore the Voting Rights Act, to ensure that every voter--no matter their race, no matter their class or creed--can make their voice heard and elect the leaders of their choice.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source