BATON ROUGE, La. (KLFY) — Hundreds gathered at Louisiana’s State Capitol for a voters’ rights rally during the legislature’s special session, advocating for the maintenance of the state’s current congressional map to ensure fair representation.

The demonstration coincided with a special legislative session where lawmakers were urged to uphold voting rights, particularly for Black voters, in light of a recent court ruling affirming fair representation.

“Representation is core to citizenship,” said Ashley Shelton of the Power of Coalition for Equity and Justice. “You cannot have full citizenship if your values and the things you care about are not showing up in the halls of Congress.”

Congressman Cleo Fields emphasized the importance of the Voting Rights Act.

“This fight is not about people who look like me,” said Fields. “Will they have an opportunity to serve not only in Congress?”

The rally was organized by the Power of Coalition for Equity and Justice, along with multiple organizations, to protest any attempts to dilute Black voting power in Louisiana.

Chants from demonstrators could be heard calling on lawmakers to protect and uphold fair voting rights, emphasizing the significance of representation in legislative bodies.

The rally highlighted ongoing concerns about voter representation and the protection of voting rights for minority groups in Louisiana, with participants calling for legislative action to ensure equitable representation.

All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by KLFY. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by KLFY staff before being published.

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