The Connecticut General Assembly passed An Act Concerning State Voting Rights in Recognition of John R. Lewis (“CTVRA”) as part of the state budget. The CTVRA is a state-level Voting Rights Act that seeks to expand access to the freedom to vote and strengthen protections against voting discrimination for communities of color throughout the state. Once signed into law, the CTVRA will become the most comprehensive state-level voting rights act, setting a new standard for states across the country.

This profile was originally published in the Corpus Christi Caller Times.

Upshaw Hawkins is the first Black president of the Corpus Christi chapter of the nonpartisan grassroots organization dedicated to advocating for voting rights across the country, founded more than 100 years ago by the suffragists who helped win women the right to vote.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program protects certain people who immigrated to the United States as children from being deported. Since the program began in 2012, DACA has allowed more than 800,000 people to remain in the US, where they attend school, work, and raise their families as vital members of our communities. 

Today the League of Women Voters of Mississippi, Disability Rights Mississippi, and three Mississippi voters filed a federal lawsuit challenging SB 2358, newly passed legislation that significantly diminishes access to the ballot for Mississippians with disabilities. The plaintiffs are represented by Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Mississippi Center for Justice, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), ACLU-MS and Disability Rights Mississippi (DRMS).