FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 14, 2021
CONTACT: Sailor Jones, sailor@scsj.org, 919-260-5906
RALEIGH, N.C. (June 14, 2021) — Voting rights advocates converged on the grounds of the N.C. General Assembly on Monday for a press conference to speak out against Senate Bills 326, 724, and 725 as lawmakers ramp up efforts to restrict access to the ballot.
The controversial package of anti-voter legislation now being fast-tracked in the state legislature would toss thousands of absentee ballots received after election day, complicate the state’s popular online voter registration process, slash private funding used to protect voters in recent elections, and more.
The “Press Conference to Protect North Carolinians’ Right to Vote” included leaders from Southern Coalition for Social Justice, ACLU of NC, Black Voters Matter NC, Democracy NC, Common Cause NC, NC Black Alliance, and NC Voters for Clean Elections. Many of the same groups were denied the ability to provide robust public comment on these bills in committee hearings held last week.
Allison Riggs, Co-Executive Director and Chief Voting Rights Counsel for Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ), told the media that the North Carolina legislature “continues to act in bad faith.”
“[This legislature] continues to rush through significant changes to election and voting procedures without adequate discussion with voters and election administrators. That hurts NC voters and gives rise to the very reasonable inference that this legislature intends the consequences of its actions – ineffective election administration and voter disenfranchisement.”
“This legislature works for us, and we don’t have to accept gaslighting. The advocates here know how elections work and know how to best serve voters. And we’ll fight any legislative actions that we know will harm voters.”
Allison Riggs, Co-Executive Director and Chief Voting Rights Counsel
SCSJ is also encouraging the public to share its concerns about this anti-voter legislation with lawmakers at scsj.salsalabs.org/protectovr.
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The Southern Coalition for Social Justice, founded in 2007, partners with communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities in the South to defend and advance their political, social, and economic rights through the combination of legal advocacy, research, organizing and communications. Learn more at southerncoalition.org and follow our work on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.