John,
Philadelphia didn’t birth American democracy just to watch it die.
We are the city that drafted the Constitution. We are the city in which freedom first rang. And today, 61 years after the Voting Rights Act became law, we certainly won’t stop fighting for our democracy, especially as the courts take direct aim. John, to mark the anniversary of the VRA, we need 610 signatures to prove that Philadelphians will always stand in defense of democracy. Can you sign on?
In 2013, the Supreme Court struck down the VRA’s core enforcement mechanism with
Shelby v. Holder. This move opened the door for states to change their voting laws without federal oversight for the first time in
fifty years.
The gutting of the VRA didn’t stop there. This past April, the Court struck down protections against discriminatory gerrymandered maps — leaving Black voters in Philadelphia and across the country at risk of disenfranchisement.
These rulings amount to a slow, deliberate dismantling of the law that made it possible for every American, regardless of race, to have a real voice. Here in Philadelphia, that voice is essential to who we are. And we won’t stand for
anything that threatens it.
Sign on to demand that Congress restore full protections under the Voting Rights Act and make it clear: voting rights will always be defended in the birthplace of democracy.
Thank you,
City Council President
Kenyatta Johnson
