|
Ohio Black Caucus President Announces Filing of Ohio Voter
Bill of Rights Petitions with Attorney General
‘OLBC, Clergy, NAACP, National Action Network, Prince Hall
Masons turn in voting rights petitions for Black History
Month’
Special to The Truth
Last week,
Ohio Legislative Black Caucus President and National Action
Network
board member Representative Alicia Reece joined NAACP Ohio
Conference President Sybil McNabb and national civil rights
leader, Otis Moss Jr., D.Min, in announcing that their
grassroots group of clergy, civil rights groups, Prince Hall
Masons, and students have officially filed the required
1,000 signatures for the OHIO VOTER BILL OF RIGHTS
Constitution Amendment with Ohio Attorney General Mike
DeWine’s office.
Once
approved by the Ohio ballot board, the group will resume
statewide petition gathering of over 385,000 signatures to
be turned in by July 2. This is the first statewide voting
rights ballot initiative of its kind in the country since
last year's dismantling of the National Voting Rights Act.
“It
is time to protect voting rights by putting it in the Ohio
constitution. No more temporary solutions to permanent
problems and playing political football with voting rights,”
said President Reece, who first called for a Voter Bill of
Rights in her speech at the 50th Anniversary of the March on
Washington last summer.
“Voting Rights is the life line of democracy and it is on
life support. We must protect it by putting it in the
constitution," added national civil rights leader and
pastor, Rev. Otis Moss, Jr., co-chair of the Ohio Voter Bill
of Rights initiative.
“This
is a civil rights issue and the NAACP will launch our
statewide training of our units on
February 15th to make sure this gets done," said Sybil McNabb,
president of the Ohio Conference of the NAACP."
|
Alicia Reece
Otis Moss, Jr.
Sybil McNabb |
