SULC to hold voting rights symposium

The Southern University Law Center will host a two-day symposium on today and Saturday dedicated to restoring the voting power of citizens affected by Hurricane Katrina.
“Preserving Power: Protecting Katrina Voting Rights and Renewing the Voting Rights Act” will be presented by the SULC, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund and J.J. McKernan Lecture.
The symposium will assemble legal professionals, elected officials, academicians, students and Louisiana residents for workshops and training to inform them of specific voting rights.
The symposium will also inform residents of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and voting rights of blacks displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, in preparation for upcoming elections.
“In order for all of Louisiana’s citizens to participate in the important political decisions that will define the state’s post-Katrina future, fair access to the voting booth will be paramount,” said LDF President and Director-Counsel, Ted Shaw.
A reception will be held today at 6 p.m., followed by a panel at 7:30 p.m. on “Voting Rights and the Katrina Diaspora”. The panel will feature Dr. Ron Walters, an expert on African-American electoral politics, Carl Galmon, a plaintiff in the Wallace v Blanco Louisiana voting rights case and many more.
On Saturday Judges Janice Clark and Geno Thibodaux will join Melanie Campbell, executive director of the National Coalition for Black Civil Participation and others on an informational panel.
“The upcoming elections are a clear illustration that minority voting rights need protection and continued enforcement of the Voting Rights Act,” Shaw said.
According to a press release, Louisiana’s election landscape has become a virtual political pendulum in the wake of two devastating natural disasters and has created several structural barriers in the participation of blacks in upcoming municipal elections.
The symposium’s on-site web cast trainings is designed to help prepare participants to advocate for the act’s renewal and train volunteers to enforce and protect the rights of Katrina evacuees to participate in the upcoming New Orleans election process.
“I think it’s a good chance for people to not only express their views and opinions,” said Sherlita Varnado, a sophomore nursing major from New Orleans and also a Katrina survivor. “But it’s also a chance for Rita and Katrina victims to learn about their rights as a citizen.”