ATLANTA—Former Freedom Riders U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and 88–year–old Southern Christian Leadership Conference President C. T. Vivian strode down Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, leading a loud, chanting, singing crowd. A burly white man parked his big American car, adorned with a Romney–Ryan sticker. He emerged, waved, and called to Lewis, “ Hi, John! I love you!”
Lewis replied, “I love you too, my brother.”
Things took on a special flavor here.
Lewis and Vivian were marking the first National Voter Registration Day, joining Georgia Reps. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) and David Scott (D-Ga.) and representatives from the League of Women Voters, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Asian American Legal Advocacy Center, the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, and others.
On the steps of the state capitol, Lewis said what he often does, “The right to vote is precious, almost sacred.”
Lewis compared the 34 state voter ID laws to the barriers to voting he met in his youth in Alabama, such as literacy tests and being asked to estimate the number of jelly beans in a jar.
“What would happen if members of Congress—maybe even the president of the United State—showed up at a polling place without an ID? Would they be denied the right to vote?” asked Lewis.
“We must eliminate every barrier and impediment to the electoral process to make voting fair, accessible, and an accurate representation of the will of the people,” said Lewis.
In an interview after the march, Lewis said that he plans to reintroduce his Voter Empowerment Act in next year’s Congress. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) will sponsor a version of it in the Senate this week. The legislation would federalize voting laws and registration deadlines.
