Peace Coalition Vigil/Rally for Peace in Gaza
Date/Time
Date(s) - 07/04/2026
12:00 am - 11:59 pm
Location
Carbondale Town Square
Categories No Categories
CELEBRATE DEMOCRACY! “SAVE” VOTING RIGHTS!
SATURDAY, JULY 4, 2026 NOON TO 1:00 PM
The Peace Coalition of Southern Illinois will hold the Monthly Peace and Justice Vigil on Saturday, July 4, Noon to 1 P.M. at the corner of Main and Illinois Ave., Carbondale. The weekly Rally for Peace in Gaza, will be held in conjunction with the vigil.
Since the founding of the U.S., blood, sweat and tears have been poured into the effort to expand voting rights to all those eligible. The Coalition on Human Needs reminds us the anti-voter SAVE America Act and the push to turn the Postal Service into a federal checkpoint for mail-in voting are just two of the voter suppression efforts underway that would turn the clock back on our democracy!
The SAVE America Act would force citizens to produce documentary proof of citizenship to register and impose a nationwide identification requirement for federal elections. More than 21 million voting-age citizens lack ready access to documents such as a passport or birth certificate. People with low incomes would face some of the greatest barriers, and this would also impact millions of women who have changed their name due to marriage, or who are victims of domestic abuse.
A June 2 proposal directs the USPS to refuse ballots from voters left off a new federal list, would tie voters’ names to unique ballot barcodes for law enforcement to scrutinize, threatening delays and federal surveillance of mail voters. The Brennan Center for Justice is challenging this proposed rule as “unlawful principally because the president lacks any authority to run elections. The Constitution gives only states and Congress the power to set election rules.”
This is all part of a coordinated campaign to place more barriers between eligible voters and the ballot. Documentation hurdles, federal databases, barcode mandates, and law enforcement involvement all create additional opportunities for mistakes, delays, intimidation, and disenfranchisement. Layer by layer, these restrictions roll back voting and civil rights. That would truly constitute a stolen election.
Congress has the power to fight back against these anti-voter, anti-democratic attempts to suppress the vote. Lawmakers must reject the SAVE America Act, defend reliable ballot delivery to all eligible voters, protect state and local election administration, and prevent federal agents from intimidating voters or interfering with ballots.
Celebrating the 250th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence presupposes voter protection! Congress must act!
Appropriate signs will be provided at the vigil, but all are invited to bring their own. The next monthly meeting of the Peace Coalition will be held on ZOOM, Tuesday July 21, 2026, 6pm. For information about joining, contact georgeannhartzog@gmail.com