ROANOKEÂ (WSLS 10) - A voting rights rally taking aim at Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Roanoke) drew hundreds to the Star City Thursday.
Around 400 people attended the rally in front of the Roanoke Public Library organized by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. While many came from Southwest Virginia, there were also more than 300 people who were brought in on buses from Washington D.C., Richmond and Tidewater.
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Protests were held on the two year anniversary of the Shelby County v. Holder U.S. Supreme Court decision, which struck down a section of the Voting Rights Act. That decision meant 11 southern states, including Virginia, did not have to get clearance from the U.S. Department of Justice before making changes to voting.
Several bills have been introduced in Congress to restore the act.
"There's only really one person in the entire country who can move this bill forward and that's Congressman Bob Goodlatte," said Greg Moore, the executive director of the NAACP's National Voter Fund.
Goodlatte is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Any bill regarding voting rights goes through judiciary committee, meaning he controls if there will debate on the issue.
"The Voting Rights Act is alive and well," Goodlatte said earlier this week. "We're certainly willing to look at any new evidence of discrimination, if there's a need to take any measures. But at this point in time we have not seen that."
Activists like Montgomery County resident Penny Franklin point to Virginia's photo identification law as evidence of voter suppression. She was happy such a large event took place close to home.
"It's right here at my backdoor," Franklin said. "I would do anything, I can be anywhere in the country to support this, but this is great. To be able to bring people out of my plant to say labor supports this because this effects everyone."
Activists know it will take time to change opinions, but they hope rallies like Thursday's will begin to change opinions in Congress.