The House Committee on Oversight and Reform held a hearing with Texas state representatives who have come to D.C. to raise awareness about the latest restrictive voting legislation under consideration in Texas. The hearing included members of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus, the Mexican American Legislative Conference and the Texas House Select Committee on Constitutional Rights and Remedies.

In response to the hearing, Martin Luther King III, Chairman of the Drum Major Institute and civil rights leader behind the upcoming March On for Voting Rights, issued the following statement:

“Members of the Texas legislature testified before the House today to call attention to the state’s voter suppression bill, which eliminates voting methods that facilitate higher turnout and active participation in our democracy. Additionally, the bill enables partisan poll watchers to harass voters. These restrictions, like Texas’ infamous gerrymandered districts, intend to dilute the voice of the people at the ballot box.

Unfortunately, today some U.S. House members—particularly the Texas delegation—used this opportunity to demean, belittle and minimize the lived experiences of Black and Brown voters, including the Honorable Rep. Senfronia Thompson, who recounted paying a poll tax and being harassed at the polls.

We are listening to Texas, and yesterday at the MLK Memorial in Washington we met with the Texas House Democrats who are preventing a vote on this discriminatory bill to tell them help is on the way. In Texas, Washington and across the country, people will march on August 28, the anniversary of the historic March On Washington, to demand our elected officials protect and defend voting rights.

The Senate must pass legislation to stop anti-democratic laws like these from silencing our voices.”

On Saturday, August 28, the Drum Major Institute, March On, the National Action Network, Future Coalition, and SEIU will host the March On for Voting Rights, a mass mobilization set for the 58th anniversary of Dr. King’s peaceful and historic March On Washington.

The flagship march in D.C. will call for legislatures across the country to end their push for restrictive voting laws and for Congress to pass the For the People Act, the John Lewis Voting Rights Restoration Act and the Washington D.C. Admissions Act.

Marches will take place across the country including Atlanta, Houston, Miami and Phoenix, where voting rights are under attack, and in Washington, D.C., where Congress is debating voting rights legislation and D.C. statehood.

For more information about the march and additional locations, visit

https://marchonforvotingrights.org/.