Again on the March in Support of Voting Act

Thousands of demonstrators marched down Martin Luther King Jr. Drive on Saturday, chanting and singing in support of extending the 40-year-old Voting Rights Act.

Organizers said they hoped the Keep the Vote Alive march would pressure Congress and President Bush to extend key provisions of the landmark law that expire in 2007.

“Forty years later, we’re still marching for the right to vote,” said Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), who participated in the civil rights struggles that helped secure passage of the law in 1965. “Don’t give up, don’t give in. Keep the faith. Keep your eyes on the prize.”

In the weekly Democratic radio address, Lewis said his party was committed to strengthening the sections of the law that were set to expire. He noted that there were 81 members of Congress of African American, Latino, Asian and Native American descent, and thousands of minorities in elected offices across the country.

“Our democracy depends on protecting the right of every American citizen to vote in every election,” Lewis said. “We must honor the legacy of all who died in the struggle for civil rights.”

Activists from across the country joined Lewis, Bruce S. Gordon, president and chief executive of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who heads the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, at Saturday’s demonstration.

Civil rights groups fear conservatives will try to modify two key provisions of the law.

One requires nine states, mostly in the South, to get federal approval before changing voting rules. The other requires election officials to provide voting material in the native languages of immigrant voters who don’t speak English.

The marchers Saturday also were protesting a new Georgia law that strictly limits which photo identification can be used by voters at the polls.

Organizers estimated the crowd at a post-march rally at 10,000 to 15,000 people. Entertainers at the voting rights rally included Stevie Wonder, Roberta Flack and Willie Nelson.