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Jun 25, 2015 Only $3 for 13 weeks Rev. S ylvia Ball of S weet Union Baptist Church in R oanoke (left) and Rev. Leslie Watson Malachi, director of African American Religious Affairs with P eople for the American W ay, were among the members of more than two dozen groups who rallied Thursday in front of the Main Library in Elmwood P ark in Roanoke.

Correction: An earlier version of this caption misidentified the Revs. Sylvia Ball and Leslie Watson Malachi. This caption has been updated.

HEATHER R OUSSEA U | The R oanoke Times A coalition of civil rights and other activists demanded Thursday that U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte take action to revive a provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act in a downtown Roanoke rally of more than 300 people.

“I’m here to tell you something, Congressman Goodlatte. Fix the Voting Rights Act!” said Priscilla Ouchida of the Japanese American Citizens League, one of more than two dozen groups represented.

Organizers hope the rally — which included state activists and national figures — will ramp up public pressure on the Roanoke County Republican, who chairs the committee where efforts to update the voter protection law have stalled.

Thursday was the second anniversary of the Shelby County v. Holder ruling, a U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down the decades-old formula used to determine which states — based on a history of voting- relating discrimination — had to submit to federal review or “preclearance” on election issues.

The high court, in a 5-4 decision, concluded the formula was outdated and had no logical connection to present-day conditions.

For Virginia and eight other states, the ruling lifted the mandate to get federal approval on decisions ranging from redistricting changes to voter registration requirements.

Congress could update the preclearance formula, but hasn’t done so. Goodlatte, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has consistently defended the law and its remaining protections as strong.

Updating it would be unnecessary unless new evidence of voter discrimination surfaces, he said.

“Hold a hearing, Mr. Chairman,” Brenda Hale, president of the Roanoke Branch NAACP, urged Thursday.

“You’ll hear the evidence.” During the more than three-hour rally, speakers from a coalition of groups — including religious leaders, disability organizations, good government advocates and national figures from the NAACP and Sierra Club — argued that discrimination was alive and evident in communities from Virginia to California.

“We’re tired of it,” said Barbara Lee, a Staunton voter who attended the rally and who is part of a recently filed lawsuit over Virginia’s photo ID law . “What’s the next law they’re going to come up with?” she asked. “What’s the next suppression going to be before 2016?” Lee, a Democratic activist, joined with another voter and the Democratic Party of Virginia this month to challenge the photo identification requirement that took effect last year.

The lawsuit argues the law, passed by a Republican-dominated legislature, was designed to suppress Democratic turnout.

Virginia Republicans have criticized the case as a politically motivated effort to manipulate the courts and said there is no evidence that voting was hindered by the law.

State Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, called the photo ID law unnecessary Thursday and contended it only creates obstacles for voters without IDs who are more likely to be older, low-income or minorities. “I’m in favor of making it easier to vote, not harder,” Edwards said in an interview after speaking at the rally.

“I’m glad to see people fired up about voting rights. It’s the most precious right we have.” On Wednesday, U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, both Democrats, co-sponsored a Senate bill seeking to update the Voting Rights Act and restore the preclearance provision. The bill establishes a “rolling” trigger so only states with recent records of discrimination would be targeted. It also expands the authority of the courts to order that troubled jurisdictions be put under preclearance.

During Thursday’s rally, speakers repeatedly said they were done asking nicely for change.

“We are mindful that we are in Roanoke not because we are here to implore, not because we are here to plead, not because we are here to beg,” said Cornell William Brooks, national president and CEO of the NAACP.

“We are here because we are demanding that Bob Goodlatte hold a hearing and vote to protect the right to vote.” Sindy Benavides, of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said her group has held private meetings with Goodlatte in the past to urge him to act.

Now, she said, it’s time to make the cause more visible.

“He seems to think that discrimination does not happen,” said Benavides, of Alexandria. “This is a clear way of showing him by having people, his constituents, out here saying that we need this. Hear us, please. Hear our voice.” In an interview Monday, Goodlatte said he was aware of the upcoming rally and agreed it was vital to keep the Voting Rights Act strong.

But he added he felt the current law met that bar by establishing protections and allowing legal action to be taken, either by voters or the U.S. Department of Justice, when violations occur.

“The fact of the matter is we have a Voting Rights Act; it is very strong,” he said. “We are certainly willing to look at any new evidence of discrimination if there is a need to take any measures. But at this point in time, we have not seen that, and therefore no changes have been made since the Supreme Court decision.” 0 comments Bob Goodlatte Alicia Petska.

Alicia Petska covers crime and public safety. She can be reached at (540) 981-3319 or [email protected]. Rep u bli c a n s p u sh f o r f u ll i n -p ers o n s c h ool; N orth am s a ys th ey 'r e 'p la yi ng p oli t ic s' Ju l 9 , 2 020 V ir g in ia a tto rn ey ge n era l a n nou nce s t e stin g o f t h ou sa n ds of r a p e k it s a n d a n e n d t o 'b ack lo g' Ju l 8 , 2 020 N orfo lk l a w m ak er J a y Jo n es a n nou nce s r u n f o r a tto rn ey g e n era l Ju l 1 3, 2 020 V ir g in ia L egis la tiv e B la ck C au cu s c a lls f o r w id e-r a n gin g poli c e r e fo rm , u rg e s 'i m med ia te a ctio n' Ju n 2 4, 2 020 N orth am c a lls f o r m ak in g J u nete en th a p aid s ta te h oli d ay Ju n 1 6, 2 020 Most P opular