The National Commission for Voter Justice (NCVJ) — also known as the People’s Commission — has concerns about voter suppression across the United States, and announced a two year examination into the matter today, in a press release sent to Blavity.

The group was formed in part as a reaction to President Donald Trump's Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, which was created to look at various ways the 2016 presidential election was "rigged" (as the president has alleged). Following widespread criticism of the commission, including a claim by a group of black lawmakers that the commission hoped to help suppress votes, the group was disbanded, as the New York Times reports. The work the committee was tasked with will now be done by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

According to the National Commission for Voter Justice, this move makes its investigation all the more important: the group believes the decision will hide important investigations from the public eye, and create tensions between the states and the DHS.

“Donald Trump may have disbanded his commission and moved it’s work out of the eye of the American public, but we aren’t. Over the next two years, this Commission will act as a conduit for people who have suffered the most when it comes to voter suppression,” said Barbara Arnwine, co-chair of the National Commission for Voter Justice, said. “More than that, we’ll empower marginalized communities with the tools they need to navigate any voter suppression effort that comes their way. We’re aiming to put our nation on a path to end voter suppression once and for all.”

The NCVJ is a nonpartisan commission made up of prominent civil rights leaders, voting rights experts, scholars, elected officials, lawyers, students, millennial advocates and community activists. Prominent names in its leadership include: Jesse Jackson, Senator Vincent Hughes, John Nichols, Juan Thomas, Al Sharpton, Gary Flowers, Hyepin Im, Reverend Grace Ji-Sun Kim, Terry O’Neill and Hector J. Figueroa.

The NCVJ's mission is to identify voter suppression efforts at the state level, to educate and provide voters with the necessary tools to overcome barriers to voting and to implement measures that support increased voter turnout.

The commission will begin its work on January 27 with a listening session in Detroit, Michigan; the first phase of its work is set to be completed in November, 2019. The commission's findings and recommendations will be published in a public report.

You can check out an official announcement about the group in the video below:

National Commission for Voter Justice

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