Damon Hewitt was the sole minority witness to testify to the challenges Black voters faced in the 2022 elections before the House Subcommittee on Elections on Friday.
WASHINGTON– Damon Hewitt, President and Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, testified before the Subcommittee on Elections of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on House Administration as part of their “2022 Midterms Look Back Series: Successes in the 2022 Midterm Elections.” Hewitt testified to the unnecessary obstacles to cast a ballot Black voters and other voters of color continue to face, and emphasized that the true measure of the 2022 elections must include not just how many people were able to vote, but which people were able to vote, and the barriers they were forced to overcome to do so.
In his testimony, Hewitt stated: “Last weekend, I was in Selma, Alabama to participate in the annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee that honors the sacrifice of those attacked on Bloody Sunday in 1965. I marched across the Edmund Pettus bridge with some of the original ‘foot soldiers’ for justice, along with many others, including Ranking Member Sewell. The eventually successful march from Selma to Montgomery put a spotlight of moral clarity on the denial of the right to vote and helped to usher in the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Nearly sixty years later, thousands of people from all walks of life continue to march every year so that America does not forget that the right to vote is still under attack today.
At the bridge crossing this year, we encountered voters who confronted unnecessary hurdles to the ballot box, volunteers who saw burdensome election laws make registering to vote harder, and election administrators who received threats simply for trying to do their job in good faith. The Lawyers’ Committee stands with them as we all carry the burden of keeping our democracy running, and as we expend significant time, effort, and resources to do so.”
Read Damon Hewitt’s full testimony here.
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About the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law – The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to mobilize the nation’s leading lawyers as agents for change in the Civil Rights Movement. Today, the Lawyers’ Committee uses legal advocacy to achieve racial justice, fighting inside and outside the courts to ensure that Black people and other people of color have the voice, opportunity, and power to make the promises of our democracy real. For more information, please visit https://link.edgepilot.com/s/7978acfe/WuCfk0ogKEK_kB5nz-g5xA?u=https://lawyerscommittee.org/
