On the 60th anniversary of the historic law’s signing, civil rights activists gathered in Newark on Wednesday to demand state and federal legislation to safeguard polling station access, fearing that recent Trump administration actions could jeopardize the progress made under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
At a midday press conference outside the Peter Rodino Federal Building on Broad Street, Larry Hamm, the founder and chairman of the People’s Organization for Progress, stated, “Here we are, 60 years after the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and we’re fighting the same thing.” Voter suppression is what we are combating. Racist gerrymandering is what we’re fighting.
Hamm was referring to the Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections executive order, which was signed by President Donald Trump on March 25.
Among other things, the decree mandates that those who vote by mail present identification as citizens. According to the order’s declared goal, free, fair, and honest elections free from fraud, mistakes, or suspicion are essential to upholding our constitutional republic while adhering to standards that are typical of other countries.
However, Wednesday’s activists, the American Civil Liberties Union, and other organizations see it as an effort to stifle legitimate voting by using intimidation and other obstacles.
The recent attempt by Texas Republicans to change the state’s congressional district boundaries in their favor in advance of the 2026 midterm elections was another point Hamm made.
Hamm and others demanded the enactment of a number of laws that would protect or increase access to the polls in response to what they see as threats to the right to vote.
One is Assembly Bill 925, a state law that would permit voters to register at polling stations on the same day.
Another is the John R. Lewis Voter Empowerment Act of New Jersey, a state law that requires all election-related laws, rules, and regulations to encourage voter turnout. It builds on important aspects of the Voting Rights Act, or VRA.
Separate from the New Jersey measure is the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, a piece of pending federal legislation that aims to modernize the historic 1965 statute following the 2013 Shelby County v. Holder ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. The law’s provision that states with a history of voter suppression obtain prior consent from federal officials before making any changes to their voting laws was overturned in that case.
The Georgia congressman who passed away in 2020, 55 years after he and other civil rights activists were assaulted on March 7, 1965, while attempting to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge during a march from Selma to Birmingham, Alabama, is honored by the state and federal Lewis legislation.
Hamm began Wednesday’s press conference by reciting a portion of the Voting Rights Act’s history.
He was joined by former Democratic state Assemblyman Craig Stanley, who currently teaches American Government at Essex County College and served as a representative for Newark in the 28th Legislative District from 1996 to 2008.
Stanley urged the approval of A-3252, another pending state measure, which would mandate that all eleventh grade students in New Jersey take an American government course in order to teach them the importance of voting and other civic engagement activities.
“Thankfully, we’re not being thrashed like Brother Lewis was,” Stanley remarked. Legislatively, however, we are being thrashed. Executive fiat is beating us over the head.
Baba Zayid Muhammad with the New Jersey Communities for Accountable Policing was among the others in attendance, and he advised everyone to out-vote bullies rather than fight them.
The news conference was held just a few floors below Acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba’s office in the Rodino Building. Habba is Trump’s troubled pick to be the Garden State’s top federal law enforcement official.
To implement the terms of Trump’s election order, Habba announced on April 29 the creation of an Election Integrity Task Force composed of FBI agents, federal prosecutors, and others.
Habba’s office released a statement announcing the task force, saying, “We and our federal partners are committed to ensuring the integrity of elections here in the District of New Jersey and making sure that the administration of all elections is in compliance with federal law.”
The task group, the executive order, and other Trump administration statements, however, are seen by Hamm and other detractors as Orwellian ironies whose actual purpose is the exact reverse of their declared one.
Democrats and left-leaning activists have criticized Habba for bringing a federal trespassing complaint against Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka, which was eventually dropped. In connection with the same May 9 incident at the Delaney Hall immigrant detention facility in Newark, Habba has also filed assault and other charges against U.S. Representative Lamonica McIver, which are currently pending.
“Anything that comes out of the office of Acting U.S. Attorney Habba always worries me,” Hamm stated.
A request for comment on Wednesday received no response from Habba’s office.
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