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< PreviousWith a nod to the original “Big Six” who organized the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom— John Lewis of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Whitney M. Young of the National Urban League A. Philip Randolph of Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Martin Luther King, Jr. of Southern Christian Leadership Conference James Farmer of CORE Roy Wilkins of NAACP —the modern-day battle for voting rights and racial justice is being led by “The Legacy Eight”—those organizations whose roots extend back to the Civil Rights Era and who are waging the 21st Century fight for racial justice. NAACP Another of the original “Big Six” organizations, the NAACP arose in 1909 out of the Niagara Movement and counts W.E.B. DuBois and Ida B. Wells among its founders. Led by Derrick Johnson since 2017, NAACP is currently engaged in legal action against voter suppression in Florida and Georgia and challenged Arizona’s restrictive vote-by-mail policies. NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE FUND (LDF) Originally the legal arm of the NAACP, the LDF was founded by future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in 1940 and became totally independent from the NAACP in 1957. Led by Janai S. Nelson , who assumed the role of president and director-counsel in 2022, LDF is the nation’s premier legal organization seeking to expand democracy through litigation, advocacy, and public education. THE LEGACY EIGHT NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE Led by Marc H. Morial since 2003, National Urban League was founded in 1910 to support Black Americans fleeing the Jim Crow South during the Great Migrations. One of the original “Big Six” organizations of the Civil Rights Movement, National Urban League’s recent voting rights advocacy included a lawsuit against Postmaster General Louis DeJoy over reckless policies implemented in order sabotage mail-in voting in 2020 elections. “The Big Six” (Hulton Archive/Getty Images) NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE 11 LAWYERS’ COMMITTEE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS UNDER LAW After George Wallace “stood in the schoolhouse door” to block integration of the University of Alabama and Medgar Evers fell to an assassin’s bullet all within 24 hours in 1963, President Kennedy called on private lawyers to play a larger role in defending civil rights. The Lawyers’ Committee was the result. Damon Hewitt has led the Committee since 2021. NATIONAL COUNCIL OF NEGRO WOMEN Trailblazing educator and activist Mary McLeod Bethune founded the National Council of Negro Women as an umbrella group of organizations working to advance the political and economic successes of Black women. Dr. Thelma Thomas Daley was named national president and chair in 2022. NATIONAL COALITION ON BLACK CIVIC PARTICIPATION/ BLACK WOMEN’S ROUNDTABLE Since 1976 the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation has served as an effective convener and facilitator of efforts to address the disenfranchisement of underserved and marginalized communities through civic engagement, particularly Voter Empowerment Organizing and Training. Melanie Campbell, who has led the coalition since 2011, convened the Black Women’s Roundtable as the Coalition’s leadership development, mentoring, empowerment, and power-building arm for Black women and girls. NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK Founded in 1991 by Reverend Al Sharpton, who still serves as president, NAN works within the spirit and tradition of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to promote one standard of justice, decency and opportunities for all people. After hundreds of racially-motivated voter suppression proposals flooded into statehouses in response to 2020’s record-high Black voter turnout, NAN worked with the King family’s the Drum Major Institute to organize the multi-city March On For Voting Rights, which focused national attention on the crisis. THE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE ON CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS Founded in 1950 by two of the “Big Six,” A. Philip Randolph and Roy Wilkins, along with National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council leader Arnold Aronson, the Leadership Conference works directly with Congress to pass civil and human rights legislation, including the Voting Rights Act. Maya Wiley was named president and CEO in 2022. The National Urban League honors and thanks the three dynamic Legacy Eight leaders who stepped down in 2022 after many years of devoted service. Wade Henderson led the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights to national prominence under his stewardship from 1996 to 2016 and stepped in as interim president in 2021. Sherrilyn Ifill took the helm of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund six months before the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013 and steered it through the tumultuous years of the Trump presidency and the twin pandemics of police violence and COVID-19. Dr. Johnnetta Betsch Cole, who made history in 1987 as the first Black woman president of Spelman College, assumed the chair of the National Council of Negro Women in 2018.12 2022 STATE OF BLACK AMERICA ® UNDER SIEGE: THE PLOT TO DESTROY DEMOCRACY Tactic #1: Gerrymandering Tactic #2: Suppression Tactic #3: Election Sabotage Tactic #4: Intimidation In partnership with ON THE LINE IS OUR RIGHT TO VOTE IS ON THE LINE THE PLOT TO DESTROY OUR DEMOCRACY: In America, every citizen is entitled to the right to vote. And, within that right, our votes are supposed to be equal. However, 20 states have leveraged census data to redraw congressional maps in the last year alone. The new maps proposed by Republican state legislatures are no more than modern-day gerrymandering that strips voting power away from communities with Black and Brown voters. Tactic #1: Gerrymandering A PERCEIVED THREAT Communities of color powered the country’s growth over the last decade—accounting for nearly all population increase for the first time in history . Black, Latino, and Asian households are increasingly moving to suburbs, transforming historically homogenous communities into diverse areas. As the racial makeup of America’s suburbs continues to evolve, elected representatives should reflect the needs of all their constituents. Unfortunately, due to racially motivated and partisan gerrymandering, people of color are not accurately reflected in the redistricting process. Two states that have created a grim framework of gerrymandering are Texas and North Carolina. STATES ARE DRAWING BATTLELINES Last decade, North Carolina’s congressional map was a 10–3 gerrymander in favor of Republicans. It was struck down as discriminatory and replaced with an 8–5 map. In 2021, the state gained a congressional seat, fueled by people of color who made up 90% of the state’s population growth. Nonetheless, Republicans drew an 11–3 congressional map likely to eliminate one of the state’s only two Black members of Congress . Proposed state legislative maps could have eliminated a third of Black state senators and a fifth of Black state house members. Both congressional and legislative maps were struck down by state courts as discriminatory, but Republicans continue to try to put skewed maps in place. In Texas, 95% of the state’s population growth was attributable to people of color and those who identify as multiracial. That growth earned the state two additional congressional seats , but communities of color did not see any increased representation. On the contrary , their clout was reduced as they were drawn out of previously competitive districts to add safe white seats. PEOPLE OF COLOR MADE UP OF POPULATION GROWTH IN NORTH CAROLINA OF POPULATION GROWTH IN TEXAS 90% 95% Yet communities of color in these states have seen decreased representation in Congress. 13 NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUEBY THE NUMBERS • Between January 1 and December 7, 2021, 19 states have passed 34 laws . It is the most significant legislative assault on voting rights since Reconstruction. • 2022 is already shaping up to be another assault on voting rights as state legislatures in 18 states carried over at least 152 restrictive bills from the 2021 legislative sessions. • In addition, in states that allow lawmakers to “pre-file” bills ahead of the next legislative session, at least 96 bills in 12 states would make it harder for voters to cast a ballot. BLOCKING THE BALLOT BOX In the 21st century, voter suppression isn’t a poll tax or outright racism. It’s an insidious, calculated set of tactics that exploit the socioeconomic damage caused by COVID-19 to make voting more difficult in marginalized communities. The laws enacted in 2021 will: • Shorten the window to apply and deliver mail ballots • Limit absentee voting lists • Eliminate or limit sending mail ballot applications to voters who do not request them • Restrict assistance in returning a voter’s mail ballot • Limit the number, location, or availability of mail ballot drop boxes • Impose stricter signature requirements for mail ballots • Impose harsher voter ID requirements • Expand voter purges or risk faulty voter purges • Increase barriers for voters with disabilities • Ban snacks and water to voters waiting in line • Make voter registration more difficult • Reduce polling place availability (locations or hours) • Limit early voting days or hours Historic voter turnout in the 2020 election sparked the beginning of one of the most insidious partisan attacks on voting rights in American history. Fueled by the “Big Lie” and a record number of voters from communities of color using mail-in ballots and early voting, partisan politicians in state legislatures around the country have drafted bills and passed laws making it harder to vote for us all. More suppressive legislation is in the pipeline in 2022. VOTING RIGHTS ARE BEING STRIPPED 14 2020 STATE OF BLACK AMERICAUNDER SIEGE: THE PLOT TO DESTROY DEMOCRACY Tactic #2: Suppression15 NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE BLACK AND BROWN VOTERS ARE BEING TARGETED Before 2020, absentee voting was neither controversial nor subject to legislative attack . In fact, Republicans passed no-excuse absentee voting in Georgia in 2005. As recently as 2019, broad bipartisan majorities expanded access to absentee voting in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. After 2020, the first year that nonwhite voters began relying on mail voting in large numbers, mail voting became the subject of intense and politicized scrutiny across America. In Georgia , for example, nearly 30% of Black voters cast their ballots by mail, compared to 24% of white voters— a reversal from past behaviors. More than 1.3 million Georgians voted absentee. To give one example of how these voting restrictions pile up, look at some of the measures Georgia took to roll back access to absentee voting this year after a mere 11,779 votes decided the presidential election. After the election, the Georgia legislature has: • Banned sending unsolicited mail ballot applications. • Required ID to vote absentee. But 272,000 registered GA voters don’t have a driver’s license or state ID on record. Black voters, who are 30% of the state’s voters, make up 56% of voters without ID. • Placed severe limits on the number of ballot drop boxes and the hours and locations. In 2020, there were 111 drop boxes in the four counties surrounding Atlanta, used by over 305,000 voters. In the future, there will likely be no more than 23, and only during working hours. • Essentially banned the provision of food and drinks to voters waiting in line to vote. Latino and Black voters were twice as likely as white voters to report particularly long wait times. Source: Brennan Center for Justice Examples of where new congressional maps target communities of color, 2021 Texas: Urban and suburban Black and Latino voters in the DFW Metroplex are placed in rural TX-6, preventing creation of a Latino opportunity district or additional minority-coalition district in the Metroplex. Texas: For the third decade in a row, lawmakers make subtle changes to TX-23 to eliminate the chances that it would elect a Latino-preferred candidate. Texas: DOJ contends that a second Latino opportunity district in the Houston area can be created by combining heavily Latino parts of three districts. North Carolina: Lawmakers dismantled the district of one of two Black members of the state’s congressional delegation before it was struck down and redrawn by state courts. Georgia: Suburban Atlanta districts are targeted, resulting in packing of voters of color. Alabama: Even though Black Alabamans make up over a quarter of the state’s voting population, only AL-7 is majority-Black. Black lawmakers and activists say a second Black-majority district could have been easily drawn and that without it, the plan violates the Voting Rights Act. Arkansas: Little Rock is wholly in AR-02 under the old map. But under the new map, it is divided among three districts, fracturing the Black community. Texas: TX-22 and TX-24 are diverse multiracial suburban districts that are broken apart in redistricting to shore up white incumbents.16 2022 STATE OF BLACK AMERICA ® UNDER SIEGE: THE PLOT TO DESTROY DEMOCRACY HOW TO STEAL AN ELECTION — THE PLOT TO OVERTURN ELECTIONS The Stop the Steal movement isn’t a slogan or a fad. Instead, it’s a calculated push to delegitimize the voices and votes of people of color across this country. DIRECT ELECTION SABOTAGE: Partisan Authority to Change Election Results States where legislators introduced bills in 2021 that would allow partisan officials to change or overturn election results. Source: Brennan Center for Justice After record turnout of Black and Brown voters through mail-in and absentee voting, voices from the right have falsely called our turnout voter fraud. In at least five states—Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Texas—officials have conducted illegitimate partisan reviews of the 2020 election results. The Stop the Steal “audits” are based on conspiracy theories and lies, but that hasn’t stopped state legislatures from leveraging them to question election fairness. Although the partisan review in Arizona reaffirmed President Biden’s victory in the state’s largest county, it has been used to sow doubt on the election’s fairness and promote vote suppression legislation based on misinformation . STEP 1DISCREDIT THE VOTE STEP 2INTRODUCE NEW OUTCOMES Bill introduced in state legislature Tactic #3: Election SabotageThere are several efforts to recruit rogue election officials to facilitate conspiracy theories and advance the goals of election deniers. At least 21 candidates running for secretary of state and 24 running for governor back President Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was illegitimate. In Pennsylvania , election deniers have recruited their followers to run for local positions that oversee polling places and vote counting. Money is pouring into election official races featuring election deniers: in the six states that had the closest vote margins in 2020, the amount of campaign contributions is more than three times higher than at this point in the 2018 election cycle, and eight times higher than 2014. Our elections are at risk when officials who espouse misinformation and dangerous beliefs hold positions in election administration. For example, in Colorado , a county clerk with connections to prominent election conspiracy theorists gave unauthorized access to the county’s voting systems, which allowed an unauthorized person to copy the voting machine hard drives and disseminate sensitive information to the public. Authorities began to investigate the matter last fall. In the following months, the clerk was indicted on state criminal charges and announced that she will run for Colorado secretary of state. We must pass legislation that strengthens voting rights and puts the checks in place to maintain the integrity of our electoral process. Otherwise, states may allow bad actors to take office and rewrite history with racist rhetoric, lies, and dangerous conspiracy theories. Source: Brennan Center for Justice The racist assault on our vote reached a dangerous tipping point in 2021 as state legislatures brazenly introduced at least 10 bills in seven states during the 2021 legislative session that would have directly empowered partisan officials to reject or overturn election results. • In 2021, at least three states have passed bills, and at least 10 more have considered bills that would sabotage the democratic process in more indirect ways. And so far in 2022, legislators in at least 13 states have introduced bills to undermine the democratic process. These bills allow political partisans to seize control of certain aspects of election administration typically handled by professional election personnel. This makes it easier for partisans to accomplish what some attempted unsuccessfully in 2020—throwing out legitimate votes. • Georgia’s new law allows the state to remove county election officials if they find “nonfeasance, malfeasance, or gross negligence.” After the 2020 election, at least 10 county board of election members were, or are, likely to be removed using new laws passed by the state legislature . At least five of them were people of color, and most were Democrats. STEP 3BLOCK THE BALLOT BOXSTEP 4ESTABLISH A ONE-PARTY RULE INDIRECT ELECTION SABOTAGE: Partisan Control of Election Administration and Vote Counting States where legislators passed or considered bills in 2021 that would allow political partisans to seize control of certain aspects of election administration typically handled by professional election personnel. Bill introduced in state legislature Bill passed by state legislature 17 NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE• Election officials worked tirelessly to administer the 2020 election in the face of unprecedented circumstances. Government officials and election experts described the 2020 election as the “most secure” election in American history. Rather than being celebrated for their heroic efforts, election officials have been subjected to an unprecedented level of threat and intimidation. • According to a recent survey, nearly one in three local election officials know of at least one election worker who has left their job at least in part because of fears for their safety, increased threats, or intimidation, and nearly one in five had their lives or their families’ lives threatened in 2020 because of their jobs. • Numerous election officials and workers from diverse metropolitan communities reported threats of violence against them and their family members, including elderly parents and children. Some election workers reported that the persistent harassment compelled them to flee their homes and hire counselors for their traumatized children. The threats were particularly graphic for women and election workers of color and often laced with racist and gendered insults. Three in five local election officials are concerned that threats and harassment will make it harder to retain or recruit election workers going forward. ELECTION OFFICIALS FACE PRESSURE FROM PARTISAN ACTORS TO THWART THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS TO ADVANCE PARTY INTERESTS. In at least 17 states , legislators introduced bills that increase partisan power to control or punish officials. Alabama, Arizona, Iowa, and Texas considered bills aimed at coercing election officials through the threat of criminal and civil penalties. Florida, Georgia, and Texas introduced bills that would empower partisan poll watchers at the expense of election workers. These bills have the double-pronged effect of threatening election officials and increasing the risk of partisan sabotage of election outcomes. • Election officials have reported many instances of partisan actors attempting to interfere with elections and pressuring officials to favor candidates of a particular party. The most well-known and flagrant instance of this was when President Trump pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes… because we won the state” in a recorded phone call . Raffensperger refused to do this, and the legislature removed him as Chair of the State Board of Elections. In Nevada, the Republican Secretary of State was censured by her own party for telling the truth: that the 2020 election in Nevada was free and fair. Nearly three times as many local election officials are very worried about interference by political leaders as they were before 2020. ELECTION OFFICIALS UNDER ATTACK Election officials are facing violent threats for carrying out their duties and upholding the legitimacy of the 2020 election. These threats reached an alarming level in 2020 and continued in 2021. local election officials are concerned about being assaulted on the job. 1 in 4 local election officials have personally experienced threats. 1 in 6 Tactic #4: Intimidation19 NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE ELECTION WORKERS ARE RESIGNING AND RETIRING AT ALARMING RATES. This underscores the difficulties they have faced over the past year and exposes a new threat to our democratic system. Large numbers of election officials have resigned in the past year , and it appears this may only be the tip of the iceberg. One in five local election officials are “very” or “somewhat” unlikely to continue serving through 2024. The primary reasons they plan to leave their jobs are politicians’ attacks on the system, stress, and retirement plans. Almost 35 percent of local election officials are eligible to retire by the 2024 election. It is not clear who will replace them, nor whether those willing to take the job in the future will share the commitment to free and fair elections or if they will be sympathetic to election sabotage efforts. local election officials are “very” or “somewhat” unlikely to continue serving through 2024. 1 in 5 CONTROLLING OFFICIALS AS ELECTION SABOTAGE: Partisan Power to Control or Punish Election Officials States where legislators passed or considered bills in 2021 that permit partisan punishment of election officials and increase the power of partisan poll watchers. Bill introduced in state legislature Bill passed by state legislature Source: Brennan Center for JusticeNext >