Politics
Rev. Al Sharpton and leaders March from Selma to Montgomery to protect voting rights
Rev. Al Sharpton. PHOTO/File
The Rev. Al Sharpton and other civil rights leaders are marching this week in Alabama in an attempt to draw public attention to controversial voting laws passed in states around the country, the latest move in the growing debate on the issue.
The five-day march from Selma to Montgomery, which retraces the steps Martin Luther King. Jr and others took in 1965 to fight for voting rights, is part of a broader push by civil rights advocates to organize against a series of laws passed since 2008 that many Democrats feel target young people and minorities who backed Barack Obama four years ago and are likely to again.
Eight states, including key electoral battlegrounds like Wisconsin, over the last year have passed laws that would require a photo identification to vote. Other states have passed controversial measures, such as Florida, where Republicans pushed through measures that would limit the days of early voting and increase restrictions on how voter registration groups conduct their work.