On
its fortieth anniversary, the Voting
Rights Act of 1965 has received increased
attention recently. With key portions
of Act set to expire unless Congress
decides to renew them, the impact
of the Act and its relevance today
are being debated once again.
Before
1965
The history of voting rights in the
United States is one of gradually
increasing inclusion. Prior to the
Civil War, states created laws limiting
voting rights, generally giving voting
rights only to white men. In 1870,
the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment
abolished any state laws that denied
male citizens the right to vote on
the basis of race, color or previous
condition of servitude. However, African
Americans’ voting rights were
almost immediately hindered by the
Ku Klux Klan, which used violence
and intimidation to prevent enforcement
of the Fifteenth Amendment. By the
1890s, most states had established
mechanisms to prevent blacks from
voting. Their methods included poll
taxes, literacy tests, vouchers of
“good character” and disqualifications
based upon “crimes of moral
turpitude.” As a result, by
1910 nearly all black citizens were
denied the right to vote in the former
Confederate states. As these mechanisms
were struck down in individual states,
new tactics emerged, including gerrymandering
that changed political boundaries
in order to limit African American
suffrage. The struggle for full voting
rights quickly became a key part of
the 1960s Civil Rights Movement.
The Voting
Rights Act of 1965
The 1964 murder of three voting rights
activists in Mississippi and the violence
of the Bloody Sunday protests in 1965
galvanized public attention, leading
President Johnson to call for a strong
voting rights law. Congress responded
by enacting the Voting Rights Act,
which closely echoed the Fifteenth
Amendment but included federal oversight
to ensure that African Americans would
not be denied the right to vote. Section
Two, a permanent part of the legislation,
specifically prohibited the use of
literacy tests to restrict voting
rights. Section Five, however, which
mandated federal review of any changes
to voting procedures in Alabama, Alaska,
Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi,
South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia
(as well as individual counties in
other states) was not made permanent
and will expire in 2007. Later amendments
to the Act prohibited preventing non-English
speaking minorities from voting (1970)
and also outlawed gerrymandering on
the basis of race (1973).
The Effect
of the Act
The number of black registered voters
increased dramatically following enactment
of the Act. According to the historians
at the Library of Congress, prior
to the Act, only an estimated 23%
of voting age blacks were registered,
but by 1969, 61% had registered. These
historians also note that the Act
had a particularly strong impact in
the South. For example, in Mississippi,
African American voting registration
increased from 6.7% to 66.5% by 1969.
Across the nation, the enfranchisement
of black voters led to a increase
in the number of elected African American
officials on local, state and federal
levels.
Renewing
the Act
U.S. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales
has recently stated that he will investigate
whether or not key sections of the
Act warrant renewal. Two sections
are drawing the most attention: Section
5 and Section 203. Those arguing against
the renewal of Section 5 claim that
federal oversight is longer necessary
as discriminatory practices in those
states have stopped. Supporters of
renewal point to allegations of black
disenfranchisement in the 2000 presidential
election as proof that federal oversight
remains necessary. Section 203, which
requires that voters be presented
voting materials in their native languages,
has also drawn the ire of activists
who claim that their language status
has prevented them from receiving
the aid they require at the polls.
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