U.S. Voting Rights Events Reflect Multiracial Reform Agenda

Senate Republicans have promised to block voting rights legislation, where Democrats don't have enough votes to overcome a filibuster rule.

A decades-old fight to expand and protect voting rights will intensify this weekend, when multiracial coalitions of civil, human and labor rights leaders hold rallies in Washington and across the nation to urge passage of federal voter protections eroded since the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It's a united front that rights advocates say hasn't been seen in two generations, back when the landmark federal legislation removed barriers keeping voters of color from easily accessing the ballot box. Some progress was made this week, when the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passed legislation Tuesday that would restore sections of historic voting legislation that allowed legal challenges to state voting laws. The Voting Rights Act also required states with a history of voter discrimination to get federal preclearance before changing laws.