Polk County residents concerned about attacks by lawmakers on free and accessible elections will come together in Haines City on Saturday, May 8, in support of the National John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Action Day.
The event will be a ‘votercade’ – a parade of vehicles – that will travel through town from 2-4 pm, starting at the Oakland Neighborhood Center, 915 Ave E., Haines City.
It will be one of hundreds of votercades held simultaneously in cities across the nation that day. In recognition of event, Haines City Mayor Morris West will be issuing on Thursday, May 6, a proclamation designating May 8th as John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Day in Haines City.
The Late Congressman John Lewis shed his blood crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge, in Alabama, to fight for Black voters and voters of color to participate in America’s electoral process and the enactment of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Today, voting rights are under attack nationally by state legislators introducing and passing laws to put up barriers to our participation in elections. Americans are coming together to fight back. Meanwhile, special interests and billionaires are spending unlimited amounts of money to buy our elections.
Organizers of the Haines City event invite residents to attend and demand the passage of the For the People Act, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and D.C. Statehood, and to address one of the greatest obstacles to the passage of civil and voting rights – and one of the last vestiges of slavery – the filibuster! For more information, visit www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/385936/