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| President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the 1965 Voting Rights Act. |
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The 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees that every adult U.S. citizen has the right to vote regardless of race. But many states, particularly in the South, set up obstacles such as poll taxes, requirements to repeat entire sections of the Constitution and other outrageous rules to prevent people of color from voting.
In the 1960s, thousands of courageous Americans of all colors marched, demonstrated and gave their lives to ensure that every American could exercise their basic freedom in a democracy of voting for the persons you want to hold political offices.
In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson pushed through Congress the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which outlawed any discrimination in voting and gave the federal government authority to enforce the law.
Even though some conservative pundits and legislators argue the law is no longer needed, the reality is that voting rights are being attacked on many fronts. Last year, Georgia legislators voted to require voters to pay $20 for a special card if they did not have photo identification. The law affected mostly people of color who did not have ready access to legal IDs and the poor who could not afford the fee. Although the Bush Justice Department approved the change, a federal judge eventually ruled against the plan on constitutional grounds, likening it to a poll tax from the Jim Crow era. For more examples of how voting rights are being denied, click here.
Now the voting rights of minorities may be in jeopardy. Unless Congress acts soon, three key sections of the Voting Rights Act will expire in August 2007. The act, which outlawed such atrocities as the literacy test and poll tax to prevent people of color from voting, has given minorities political power and propelled thousands of people of color into elective office.
Twenty major civil rights, religious and union organizations, including the AFL-CIO, have joined together to form the to mobilize their members and to lobby Congress to renew the act.
The key provisions due to expire allow for significant federal oversight of state and local voting places that have the longest and worst histories of voting discrimination against minorities. This oversight is intended to identify and prevent proposed voting changes that worsen the position of minority voters. The key sections are:
Activists across the country are contacting their members of Congress to urge them to vote to renew those sections of the law that are due to expire. The Senate Judiciary Committee will begin hearings on the renewals April 27.
Write, e-mail or call your members of Congress and tell them to vote to renew this vital federal protection of the right to vote.
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