Over 70 Groups Urge Gov. Sherrill to Support and Sign New Jersey Voting Rights Act in First 100 Days 

NEWARK – A coalition of voting rights advocates (the “NJVRA NOW Coalition”) delivered a letter today to Governor Mikie Sherrill and Lieutenant Governor Dale Caldwell calling for them to protect the right to vote by supporting the John R. Lewis Voter Empowerment Act of New Jersey and signing it into law in the first 100 days of their term in office.

The NJVRA NOW Coalition told Governor Sherrill: “As a member of Congress, you admirably stood alongside Congressman Lewis as a co-sponsor of the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. You now have the opportunity to continue that legacy by urging the legislature to immediately pass New Jersey’s own voting rights act ... in your first 100 days in office.”

Voters in New Jersey, especially Black and other voters of color, face many barriers when it comes to casting their ballots, including late openings and long lines on Election Day, struggles with physical access to polling locations for those with disabilities, and lack of language accessibility for those with limited English proficiency.

“New Jersey voters, especially voters of color, showed up at the polls in November and proved they want to be heard and participate in our democracy – but they can’t do that if they can’t properly access their right to vote or, indeed, are afraid of exercising it,” the letter said.

The 1965 federal Voting Rights Act was landmark legislation – the culmination of decades of organizing and fighting for racial justice in the United States. With many foundational provisions, it protected voters of color against racial discrimination in voting.

“This past weekend marked 61 years since the great late John Lewis was brutally beaten crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama for the right to vote,” the letter said. “His sacrifice and that of the other foot soldiers that day was not in vain. In August of that year, the landmark 1965 federal Voting Rights Act was passed, which not only delivered on the promise of the Fifteenth Amendment to protect voters of color from racial discrimination in voting, but was also largely successful in doing so.”

Unfortunately, the U.S. Supreme Court has steadily weakened those protections over the past decade, and Congress has failed to take corrective action. Now, the Supreme Court could weaken the federal VRA even further in the pending Louisiana v. Callais case.

“Unfortunately, New Jersey voters may not be able to depend on the same level of federal protections going forward,” the letter said. “Our democracy is under attack and voters are asking: What is being done to save it?”

The NJVRA “would protect voters of color in New Jersey and strengthen our state democracy as voting rights continue to be eroded on the federal level,” said the NJVRA NOW Coalition in its letter. “New Jerseyans deserve a state voting rights act that codifies existing federal voting rights protections.”

With voter suppression rampant across the country and federal voting rights eroded, it is more important than ever for New Jersey to enshrine into law voter protections to strengthen our democracy.

The NJVRA would:

• Establish a New Jersey preclearance program that makes local governments with a history of discrimination prove that certain changes they make to the voting process will not harm voters of color before those changes can go into effect;

• Provide legal tools to fight discriminatory voting rules and procedures in court;

• Expand language assistance for voters with limited English proficiency;

• Include strong protections against voter intimidation, deception or obstruction at the polls;

• Ensure local and state voting procedures and policies do not deny voters of color and other protected categories of voters the right to cast their vote.

For a full list of NJVRA NOW coalition members and more about the campaign for a New Jersey Voting Rights Act, visit njvra.org.

A full copy of the letter can be found here.

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