A group of civil rights and progressive advocates attempted to deliver 500,000 signatures from Americans who support restoring the Voting Rights Act to the office of House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) but couldn't after they were met with a locked door.
The group, VRA for Today Coalition, announced its launch as it delivered the petition with more than 500,000 signatures from Americans against voter discrimination. VRA for Today Coalition leaders went to Boehner's door in the Longworth House Office Building "during normal business hours" Wednesday to deliver the petition, the group's press release said. They knocked on his door several times, but it was locked and no one answered.
In a statement, the VRA for Today Coalition said "voters will head to the polls in November with the weakest protections against voting discrimination in half a century."
In June 2013, in Shelby v. Holder, the Supreme Court invalidated a section of the Voting Rights Act that determined which states had to have their election laws reviewed for possible discrimination.
"Today, the Speaker's office was closed to voting rights. This is symbolic of how House Leadership has ignored voters who are being discriminated against right now," Wade Henderson, one of the organizers of the VRA for Today Coalition, said Wednesday.
Boehner's office did not return a request for comment.
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