John Lewis 'Votercade' Brings Activists Across Arizona Together

ARIZONA — Social justice advocates will converge upon the Arizona State Capitol and Tucson City Hall Saturday, to cause what the late Civil Right Movement figure and Rep. John Lewis called "good trouble."

The protesters are part of the national John Lewis Good Trouble Votercade, a 130-plus city car-centric protest that aims to fight voter suppression, end the filibuster and support D.C. statehood, in addition to other measures.

The votercade comes on the heels of the 2020 election, which saw record-breaking turnout among Black, Hispanic and Indigenous populations, as well as young voters.

Andres Portela III, who serves as the deputy director of the Arizona Coalition for Change, is spearheading the Tucson votercade.

Portela said his vision for Saturday's event is to call attention to the continued disenfranchisement of voters across America.

"It's extremely personal, as an Afro-Latino growing up in Arizona, where we have seen — even over the last year — an onslaught of voter disenfranchisement," Portela told Patch. "So I think it's important to recognize our civil rights heroes, like John Lewis.

"To honor the folks who have done amazing work for all of these years for people like me, so I can see myself in this fight."

Portela said the Tucson event plans on circling Tucson City Hall in downtown Tucson from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., with decorated vehicles featuring posters about voter advocacy.

Additionally, the Tucson event will feature drum beating and speakers talking about why ending restrictions on voting is important to the country at-large, Portela said.

One item that Portela and other advocates will take to the streets for on Saturday is the adoption of H.R. 4, known as the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2019.

The act would reestablish a large part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, parts of which were struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013.

It's legislation like H.R. 4 that launched the Arizona Coalition for Change, which is a Black-led organization that seeks to empower people to transform their communities through civic power and community collaboration.

Portela hopes Saturday's votercade will be a fitting example of how such a vision can play out in real life.

He also cited Arizona House Bill 2309, which would have increased penalties for protesting from a misdemeanor to a Class 6 felony, as proof of why such action is necessary.

Saturday's votercade is also occurring in the midst of Arizona's election audit, which the U.S. Department of Justice has raised concerns about, regarding whether federal election laws are being violated.

"Saturday's votercade is a good example of what good trouble looks like," Portela said. "We saw this year, with the Arizona state legislature, a bill that was going to attack the way we organize and protest. We are going to protest peacefully, protesting advocacy, good trouble. This is a good example of that."

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It's that vision for a brighter future that motivated organizers, like Lucy Olivas, to organize a votercade 110 miles up Interstate 10 in Phoenix.

Olivas, who is an organizer with Mi Familia Vota Arizona, has been one of the minds behind Saturday's votercade at the Arizona State Capitol on Saturday.

She said the Phoenix event, which will see advocates driving around the Capitol complex from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, is meant to speak out against legislation that aims to curtail BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) voters from participating in elections.

"We plan to advocate for Latinos' voting rights," Olivas told Patch. "And what we're planning to do [Saturday] is, we want to address and fight for the right to vote."

Olivas said the Phoenix "votercade" is aiming to fight for a solution that makes participating in elections fair and equitable.

She added that Mi Familia Vota, which first arrived in Arizona in 2004, has worked long and hard to build and ensure Latino political power through voter engagement efforts, working in states with the highest Latino population counts.

"We're going to be fighting for our voting rights," Olivas said. "That's why we were out there last year in the heat registering people and everything. And now it's not fair that they're trying to fight ups and take that away."

Olivas' message to state legislators, as well as members of congress and the Senate is simple.

She wants them to know that the country's block of BIPOC voters expects them to listen to their frustrations and to serve the people that elected them in the first place.

"We want people in congress to listen to us, but we're not going to give up. We're going to continue this fight," Olivas said. "We were the ones that put them where they are right now. And the same way that we fought for them to be where they are right now, we could work just as hard to remove them from that position.

"So we were the ones making the calls. We were the ones texting. We were the ones walking and knocking on those doors. And it's not fair that it's now been over 100 days, and they haven't done anything at all."