NOW Joins Coalition Partners in Effort to Renew the Voting Rights Act of 1965

March 21, 2005

Today we join our friends and allies in an effort to secure one million signatures for the reauthorization of the historic Voting Rights Act of 1965. We've learned from the voting problems surrounding the 2000 and 2004 elections that it is imperative we renew this legislation to secure our right to vote before the scheduled expiration date in 2007.

In the wake of November's defeat, the National Organization for Women (NOW) made a commitment to monitor the Bush administration more closely than ever. We want every political party to make sure that women are at the table when campaign messages and strategies are developed over the next four years. Involving women in these discussions will help the parties and the politicians speak to women and the issues we care about. Involving women will help put our country's political and social agenda back on track.

We must get women to the polls in 2006. We need women to become part of the Social Security debate that has yet to address the fact that women have so much more to lose if privatization wins. Workers, especially women and low- and middle-income families count on survivor, disability and retirement benefits from the current system—our only guaranteed family safety and retirement insurance providing protection in case of unexpected death or disability in the working years and from poverty in their golden years.

Women of all ages must be skeptical of the "privatization" scheme. Social Security serves as the foundation of women's economic security in retirement and provides the sole source of income for almost one-half of unmarried women—widows, divorced and never-married—when they retire. Without Social Security, more than half of elderly women would be living in poverty. Women receive fewer and smaller pensions than men because of the wage gap and penalties for caring for families, and they depend on social security. Privatization would further reduce their benefits, while yielding minimal returns in their smaller "personal accounts." If wealthy workers are allowed to opt out of the scheme entirely, an even greater burden will be placed on low- and middle-income workers to keep the trust fund healthy.

Since Latinas and African-American women have higher rates of premature disability and death, Social Security benefits are especially important to their families. One in five African American and Latina/o Social Security beneficiaries is under age 55, compared to one in 10 white beneficiaries.

As if the battle to save Social Security weren't enough to keep us busy, the extremist juggernaut continues to roll over women, trying to dismantle our hard-won rights one-by-one. With the possibility of the resignation of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist keeping the rumor mill turning, NOW remains committed to opposing any anti-woman, anti-choice, anti-civil rights nominee.

George W. Bush said he favors arch-conservative justices like Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas whose radical ideologies would be disastrous for the advancement of women. NOW will lead the fight against any nominee who would turn back the clock on women's rights.

Yet the battle for the courts does not stop at the Supreme Court. A U.S. Court of Appeal is often the court of last resort for the preservation of our rights, as the Supreme Court takes only a few thousand cases each year. Bush continues to nominate and re-nominate right-wing ideologues with terrible records on everything from women's rights to the environment. It is unclear which judicial nomination will be heard by the Judiciary Committee next and how our enemies in Congress will react to the determination of our Congressional allies to stand up to this court-packing scheme. Stay tuned, as this parade of horrible judges unfolds.

To bring an end to the second-class treatment of lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender people and their families, we launched the Equal Marriage NOW Campaign to personalize and create visibility around the issue of same-sex marriage. We know that many members of Congress have not heard enough from their constituents on our side of this issue. Some members actually believe no LGBT people or their supporters live in their districts! It's time they found out who we are, where we live and how we vote. We must empower ourselves and raise our voices to stop the Federal Marriage Amendment from writing discrimination into the Constitution, to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and bring about change in 2006.

As if to add insult to injury, Democratic leaders forced winning pro-choice candidate Barbara Hafer out of the 2006 Pennsylvania Senate race against extremist Republican incumbent Rick Santorum, so they could run an anti-choice Democrat—the same losing tactic they used against Santorum in 2000. Pitting another anti-choice candidate against Santorum will surely result in defeat. Many saw Hafer as the strongest possible challenger to Santorum. A recent poll conducted on behalf of Hafer showed that 60 percent of Pennsylvania Democrats, 54 percent of PA Independents, and 40 percent of PA Republicans are pro-choice.

Don't mistake this for a random act. It's just one more calculated effort by party leaders to build a so-called "bigger tent" at the expense of women's rights. It's happening in Rhode Island as well. Sen. Charles Schumer and national Democratic leaders recruited an anti-choice candidate to run against a pro-choice candidate in the party's Senate primary. If we don't stop this losing strategy now, they'll use it again and again until women's rights as a party platform is a faint memory.

Women make up the vast majority of those who vote for the Democratic Party, and contribute a majority of their direct mail contributions. We deserve better than this. It does women no good if both major parties are hostile to women candidates and women's rights.

In spite of the endless bad news, we can claim one great victory. Last week in Congress, Bush's plans to make cuts to Medicaid were thwarted by a 52 to 48 Senate vote that stripped Medicaid cuts from the budget and replaced them with a plan to create a one-year commission to recommend changes in the program. Medicaid is the only source of reproductive health care for millions of poor and low income women. Women comprise 71 percent of adult Medicaid beneficiaries. Bush claims that programs such as Medicaid need to be cut in order to control spending and reduce the federal deficit-a deficit that he and right-wing Republicans created with huge tax cuts for the wealthy and the budget-sapping war in Iraq. We see this victory as one of many future defeats of Bush's anti-woman, anti-civil rights initiatives.

NOW will continue to serve as a strong voice for women. We want women to understand that their votes count. As we saw this year, women can make the difference between advancing our rights and falling victim to four-more years of an anti-woman agenda—next time we must have a message that earns their votes. Together with our coalition partners, we promise to be there every step of the way until women are equally represented in all aspects of society.

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