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1996 SESSION


HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 180
Designating March 24, 1996, as Voter Education and Participation Day in Virginia to honor the memory of Evelyn T. Butts.

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, March 7, 1996
Agreed to by the Senate, March 6, 1996

WHEREAS, 1996 marks the 30th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision that eliminated the poll tax; and

WHEREAS, a Norfolk political activist and public servant, the late Evelyn T. Butts, was the moving force behind this historic decision; and

WHEREAS, Evelyn Butts challenged the poll tax in the early 1960s, and, with the help of attorney Joseph A. Jordan, Jr., and U.S. Solicitor General Thurgood Marshall, prevailed in the U.S. Supreme Court; and

WHEREAS, not content to rest on her laurels, Evelyn Butts immediately led a voter registration drive that added thousands of registered voters to the rolls in the Norfolk area; and

WHEREAS, on this 30th anniversary of the end of the poll tax, it is appropriate and fitting that the manifold contributions of Evelyn T. Butts be remembered and commemorated; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly designate March 24, 1996, as Voter Education and Participation Day in Virginia, in honor of the memory of Evelyn T. Butts; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the General Assembly urge the citizens of Virginia to register, to vote, and to be active participants in our democratic political system; and, be it

RESOLVED FINALLY, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates transmit a copy of this resolution to the State Board of Elections, with the request that the Secretary of the State Board of Elections in turn forward copies of this resolution to all local general registrars.