LWV Supports Senate Introduction of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act

Throughout his lifetime, John Lewis was a stalwart warrior for the promise of American Democracy. We owe it to the legacy of John Lewis’ life of service to answer his end-of-life plea not to sit silent but to do our part to ensure that a robust American democracy continues. 2025 marks the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the historic day when civil rights activists attempted to march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, but were violently stopped by law enforcement.    The horrors of Bloody Sunday, broadcast across the nation, led to the signing of the most important and impactful civil rights legislation in our history. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) marked the first time that access to the ballot was genuinely available for all American voters, directly addressing racial discrimination in voting.  Today, as we examine our current state of voting in the US, it’s crucial to see our history led us here and what we can learn.  Since the Trump administration took office in January 2025, we’ve seen increased attacks on our democratic systems and a failure by Congress to intervene. This came to a head in early April, when the president defied a Supreme Court order to return
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