Voting rights march targets Trump election changes

Civil rights activists marched on the National Mall in Washington on Friday against Republican redistricting and voting restrictions pursued by President Donald Trump before November's US midterm elections.

The “Defend the Vote” rally brought a crowd of a few hundred to the Lincoln Memorial 63 years after Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech during the 1963 March on Washington.

The march was organised by civil rights leader Al Sharpton and led by King's son, Martin Luther King III, with support from more than 90 civil rights, labour, faith and community organisations. Speakers included Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger, House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senator Bernie Sanders.

King III told the crowd that having to fight to maintain voting rights was “a truly national disgrace”. Sharpton described the march as the start of an organising campaign intended to continue through Election Day.

Organisers say voting rights face their most serious threat in decades after an April Supreme Court ruling weakened protections under the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Civil rights groups say the decision allowed Republican-led states in the South to redraw congressional districts in ways that dilute the political influence of Black voters.

The march also came amid legal fights over Trump's executive order seeking tighter rules for mail-in voting. Civil rights organisations, including the NAACP, filed new legal claims this week arguing that the changes could prevent eligible voters from casting ballots, while courts have issued conflicting decisions over how much of the order can take effect before the elections.

Organisers also sought to connect voting access with wages, health care, housing and affordability concerns among younger Americans. Polling cited by Axios found that 36 percent of Black voters aged 18 to 29 named jobs and the economy as their top issue, compared with 11 percent who cited racism.

Alotta Taylor, vice chair of the National Council of Negro Women, told AFP that activists would “push forward” despite what she described as strategies to limit voting rights. Howard University student Jessica Canty, 18, said she attended to defend a right won by earlier generations.