Civil Rights

Coronavirus has unabashedly exposed many flaws in our system and highlights the need for community resources, and in hard-to-count communities just like any other, we need to fight for funding for our hospitals and school system.

The Colorado Accurate Residence For Redistricting Act is “a victory for fair maps in Colorado,” Patrick Potyondy, policy manager for Colorado Common Cause, a nonpartisan nonprofit focused on fair and accountable political representation that supported the legislation, wrote in an email. “Under this reform, no legislator or congressional representative of either party would benefit politically any longer because of the state prison in their district that bloats their local population,” he wrote. “The bill removes a perverse incentive for elected officials in the legislature or in Congress to want more people imprisoned in their districts… This will hopefully help reduce our level of mass incarceration.”

On this, the 54th Anniversary, we celebrate the Voting Rights Act as a remarkable accomplishment, a promise of political equality and the start of righting the wrongs of centuries of abuse. Today, as its legacy is under attack, we must also use this time to be energized to continue the fight to restore and strengthen the protections of the Voting Rights Act and protecting our democracy.