BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana Democratic Party released the following statement from Chair Karen Carter Peterson on the 49th anniversary of President Lyndon Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law:
“For far too long, the promise of America’s great experiment in democracy was a promise unfulfilled for women and people of color, who were barred from exercising their voting rights. When President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act 49 years ago today, many barriers to voting came crashing down, and so many who had been disenfranchised were finally brought into the political process.
“As a nation we’ve come so far, but in recent years, voting rights have come under attack in state after state. Burdensome voter ID laws that restrict access to the ballot box for women, people of color, seniors and low-income citizens are not just wrong — they’re un-American.
“The time is right to pass bipartisan legislation to renew the Voting Rights Act. We urge Louisiana’s members of Congress to take action on this critical legislation and ensure every eligible voter can register, that every registered voter can vote and that every vote is accurately counted.”
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