An estimated 100 civil rights organizations marched from New York City's Upper East Side to the United Nations on Saturday to draw attention to the mounting problem of voter suppression in communities of color across the nation, NY1 reports.
Protesters marched to the United Nations Saturday and spoke out against what the NAACP calls an aggressive attack against voting rights across the country.
Laws either proposed or adopted in 34 states require prospective voters to provide extensive documentation in order to get a voter ID card.
The protesters likened such laws to poll taxes and other tactics that were once used in the Jim Crow south.
“If successful, these laws would disenfranchise well over five million voters. That's more people than live in Manhattan, Bronx, and, I think, Staten Island put together, and that's not what democracy should be about,” said Donna Lieberman of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
Union leaders, community activists, immigrant groups and elected officials gathered near the headquarters of Koch Industries.
Those at the rally say the Koch brothers, who’ve donated millions to conservative and Tea Party causes, are bankrolling efforts across the United States to change voter identification requirements, bans on the formerly incarcerated and early voting periods.
It is critical that the NAACP and other civil rights organizations continue to shine the spotlight on these repressive laws. We cannot allow our hard-fought freedoms to be stolen away by demagogues.
Read more at NY1.