Civil rights icon from Selma says ‘we will make history again' - despite alleged black voter suppression

Congressman John Lewis spoke to ‘The Independent’ after a rally in Charlotte

The civil rights icon John Lewis has vowed that Democrats will make history again by electing Hillary Clinton – despite reports of attempted voter suppression in places such as North Carolina.

With just days before election day, the southern state has emerged as one of the most crucial battlegrounds as Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton seek to deliver a knock-out blow.

Polls give Ms Clinton a small but persistent lead of around two per cent in the in the state, which has 15 electoral votes, in recent weeks. For Democrats, it may be one of their best chances of winning one of the states carried by Mitt Romney in 2012.

Carrie Graves, 80, was in Washington in 1965 when the Voting Rights Act was passed (Andrew Buncombe ) (Andrew Buncombe)

Mr Trump also knows just how important it is. “Our path to victory is through Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and Iowa. And we believe 100 per cent that we’re winning all four of those. And once we do that, then we put ourselves in a position to win one of those other swing states,” his deputy campaign manager David Bossie told CNN this week.

Reports from places such as Beaufort, Moore and Cumberland counties, say voters have complained that their registrations were cancelled because mailings sent by private individuals to their homes came back as undeliverable. They reported the information to county election officials.

John Lewis was among the protest leaders at Selma in 1965 (Getty)

The US Department of Justice filed a statement of interest late on Monday night supporting the North Carolina National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People’s (NAACP) federal lawsuit, alleging that thousands of voters were being illegally removed from the polls.

“The purge programme at issue here rested on a mass mailing and the silence of voters largely unaware of the potential injury to their voting rights,” it said.

On Thursday, Mr Lewis, 76, a congressman who represents Georgia’s fifth district and a one-time contemporary of Martin Luther King, spoke at a rally in Charlotte where he urged voters to get out and vote.

The man who was one of the original Freedom Riders and who was injured when police turned violent on hundreds of peaceful demonstrators in Selma, Alabama, in 1965, urged people get to the polls.

Mr Lewis following a campaign event in Charlotte (Andrew Buncombe)

“Do it for our children, and their children, so no one will be left out or left behind in this state or in America,” he said.

After the rally, he and others Democrats marched to one of the polling stations that has seen large numbers of early voters. Large numbers of people turned out to cheer and wave and to shake his hand.

More than 22 million Americans have already voted (Andrew Buncombe)

Asked by The Independent to reflect that the battles he and others fought half-a-century ago were still being fought, he said: “We will not give up, we will continue to press on.”

Eight years ago, the Democrats made history by electing the country’s first African-American president. Asked if history could be made again, he said: “We can make history. We can elect Hillary Clinton the next president of the United States.”

Mr Lewis walked to the Bette Rae Thomas Recreation Centre in Charlotte, where people were arriving throughout the afternoon to cast their votes ahead of election day. Carrie Graves, 80, said she had been in Washington in 1965 when the Voting Rights Act was passed.

“I will be voting for Hillary Clinton. She has done so much – for children, for healthcare,” she said.

Supporters of Hillary Clinton at Charlotte’s West Boulevard Library

Asked about the email controversy that has dogged the Democrat much of the campaign and which has been reopened by revelations that the FBI was looking at new emails, she said: “I don’t know anyone who in their life has not done wrong. They don’t have wings on their backs.”

At another polling station nearby, people were lining up outside the city’s West Boulevard Library.

Jay Baucom said he had come early to end the stress of the campaign. He believed Ms Clinton would win and he was casting his vote for her. He was concerned, however, that whoever emerged as the president-elect, the country would not come together around them them. “People are very divided, and people will not unite,” he said.

Andrea McKnight had come with members of her family to vote. She said she knew things were tight in North Carolina and she wanted to make sure her vote counted. She too was supporting Ms Clinton.

“I think Hillary Clinton is going to win. She is going to be the first lady president, and Donald Trump is a total jerk,” she said. “I saw him on The Apprentice.”