Secretary Hobbs joins bipartisan group of state election officials on voting rights history tour in Alabama

PRESS RELEASE
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For Immediate Release
Wednesday, May 8, 2019

PHOENIX—Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs will join 18 other secretaries of state and one lieutenant governor from across the nation on a nonpartisan voting rights history tour that will include stops in in Birmingham, Montgomery and Selma, Alabama.

“Spending time in the places where the struggle to expand voting rights was a matter of life and death provides a somber reminder of the responsibility we have to ensure elections are accessible to all eligible voters,” Hobbs said.

The tour, May 9, 10 and 11, will take participating officials to places that together tell the story of the struggle for voting rights and enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. They include 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Dexter Ave. King Memorial Baptist Church and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, and culminating in a bridge crossing on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma.

Alabama Secretary of State John H. Merrill and Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson partnered to host the tour. The National Association of Secretaries of State is providing logistical and organizational support in conjunction with the Alabama Department of State and the Michigan Department of State.

Participating officials include:

  • John Merrill, Alabama (R)
  • Kevin Meyer, Alaska Lt. Governor (R)
  • Katie Hobbs, Arizona (D)
  • Denise Merrill, Connecticut (D)
  • Brad Raffensperger, Georgia (R)
  • Connie Lawson, Indiana (R)
  • Paul Pate, Iowa (R)
  • Scott Schwab, Kansas (R)
  • Alison Lundergan Grimes, Kentucky (D)
  • Kyle Ardoin, Louisiana (R)
  • Matt Dunlap, Maine (D)
  • Jocelyn Benson, Michigan (D)
  • Barbara Cegavske, Nevada (R)
  • Bill Gardner, New Hampshire (D)
  • Frank LaRose, Ohio (R)
  • Kathryn Boockvar, Pennsylvania (D)
  • Nellie Gorbea, Rhode Island (D)
  • Steve Barnett, South Dakota (R)
  • David Whitley, Texas (R)
  • Kim Wyman, Washington (R)

This tour is made possible through the generous support of the Center for Secure and Modern Elections, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Ford Foundation, and the Democracy Fund.

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