Common Cause president joining "Stand for Freedom"events in NYC

NEW YORK, NY (12/08/2011)(readMedia)-- With voting rights in the U.S. facing the most aggressive attack in at least a century, Common Cause President Bob Edgar will join other civil rights and good government leaders at the head of a "Stand for Freedom" march and rally on Saturday in the heart of New York City.

"Americans like to think of our elections as a model for the rest of the world, but as we approach 2012, some of our leaders are behaving like dictators," Edgar said. "To advance their political careers and those of their allies, they're trying to exclude large groups of their fellow citizens from participating in our democracy. This march aims to call them out."

Beginning at the mid-Manhattan headquarters of Koch Industries, whose owners have helped finance a national campaign to impose needless restrictions on voter registration and voting, the march down East 61st Street, Park Avenue, and East 47th Street will conclude with a rally at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, in the shadow of the United Nations headquarters.

"Saturday is United Nations Human Rights Day, so it's particularly appropriate that we march to the UN, which stands for the promotion and preservation of democracy around the world, to defend democracy here in America," Edgar said.

Despite an absence of evidence that voter fraud is a significant problem in U.S. elections, the National Conference of State Legislators reports that lawmakers in 34 states introduced bills this year to impose or tighten requirements that prospective voters provide official documents proving their identity. It is estimated that millions of qualified voters, particularly senior citizens, college students, and people of color, lack the driver's licenses and other government-issued IDs these bills demand and so face the loss of their voting rights.

"Restrictive voter identification laws, the exclusion of ex-felons from voting, and the refusal to increase access at the polls by passing such straightforward laws as early voting and No-excuse absentee voting undermines our core democratic principles. We are proud to support the Stand for Freedom Coalition to demand a equitable and accessible voting process for all Americans on Election day," said Susan Lerner, Executive Director of Common Cause/NY. .

"Stand for Freedom" will begin at 10:30 a.m. with a press conference outside the Koch offices at E. 61st and Madison Ave; the march is scheduled to start at 11:30 and the rally is set for 12:30. Several thousand people are expected to take part. Other participating leaders include Ben Jealous, national president of the NAACP; Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union; Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers; Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League; U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel; and the Rev. Al Sharpton.

For more information, please visit http://www.stand4freedom.org/

Common Cause is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to restoring the core values of American democracy, reinventing an open, honest, and accountable government that works for the public interest, and empowering ordinary people to make their voices heard.

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