NAACP and NEA Join Forces in Fight for Voter Rights

By: Lynette Holloway | Posted: August 20, 2012 at 1:15 PM

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The NAACP and the National Education Association are teaming up to register, educate and activate hundreds of thousands of voters ahead of the 2012 elections, arguing that there is too much to lose, the groups announced on Monday.

"This partnership between NEA and NAACP on voter rights is part of a shared social agenda that will reach beyond the ballot box in November," Becky Pringle, NEA secretary-treasurer, said in a news release. "We'll continue to work as partners, combining our influence and power to fight for jobs programs, economic justice and fair housing, and adequate and equitable funding of public education. We are proud to be part of this tremendous movement, just as we were proud to fight for voting rights in the 1960s."

The news release states:

Over the past weekend, seasoned NAACP field organizers engaged local NEA activists in a two-day training with workshops focused on voter registration/activation tools. Participants also attended a session on the new voter suppression laws like cuts to early voting and strict government-issued voter photo ID requirements that are emerging across the country and could prevents millions of eligible voters from casting a ballot. The people most affected by these laws are disproportionately people of color, women, seniors, blue-collar workers and students.

"In the last two years, more states have passed more laws pushing more voters out of the ballot box than at any time since the rise of Jim Crow," stated NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous. "The extremists behind these laws know that the right to vote is the gateway to protecting so many of the other rights we care about, including the right to quality public schools for the next generation."

"But we can stop these attacks and protect our rights by voting," Jealous said. "That is why we have partnered with the NEA in these voter registration, education, and protection efforts -- to ensure that our voices are heard and our votes are counted on Election Day and for years to come."

NEA educator/activists will join with NAACP volunteers on the ground in registration and activation efforts in seven key states as part of the partnership. These states are Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Ohio and Virginia.

Read more at the NAACP.

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