Civil rights leaders announce ‘March on Washington’ to defend voting rights

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July 15, 2026

From Reuters

Martin Luther King, III, in this photo from 2007, will join the upcoming march (Max Talbot-Minkin from New York, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

CHICAGO — Civil rights leaders announced plans for a Washington march ‌to defend voting rights, saying Tuesday that recent court decisions have weakened key federal protectio9ns against racial discrimination in voting.

The coalition — led by the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network and joined by Martin Luther King III, Arndrea Waters King and labor and civil rights groups — will host the “March on Washington 2026: Defend the Vote” march on Aug. 28.

That will mark the 63rd anniversary of ⁠the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

Organizers said they hope to use the event to pressure lawmakers and rally a response to the erosion of voting protections.

The campaign centers on the Supreme Court’s April ruling weakening Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, a key provision used to challenge voting laws and electoral maps that discriminate on the basis of race or dilute minority voting power.

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