RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) – Thousands of people participated in protests across the country Saturday over voting rights.
The main rally happened in Alabama, the birthplace of the civil rights movement.
In Richmond, about 50 to 100 protesters hit the streets to demonstrate against recent stops to redistricting efforts.
The protest came one day after the U.S. Supreme Court decided to side with Virginia’s state Supreme Court in striking down an effort by Democrats to redraw voting maps ahead of the midterms in November.
Many protesters are demanding stronger protections for voting access and fair representation for all Americans.
“We’ve watched segregation, we’ve watched Jim Crow unravel, we’ve watched it put itself back together again, we’ve watched it happen so the question is what’s going to happen on your watch,” said Sen. Mike Jones.
There were several speakers at the rally, including Alexsis Rodgers with Black Futures Lab, Democratic member of the Virginia House of Delegates Rae Cousins, and Gaylene Knaoyton, regional vice president and political action chair.
While some groups are figuring out the next steps, others are celebrating the recent Supreme Court decisions.
“You cannot allow hundreds of thousands of Virginians to begin voting in an election and then pretend afterward that those same voters had a constitutional opportunity to consider an amendment proposal that had not even passed yet,” Ken Cuccinelli, the National Chairman of the Election Transparency Initiative, said in a statement.
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