Fifty Years On, The Voting Rights Act Is Still Controversial

Congress should honor the original intent of the Voting Rights Act by passing several bills that have been introduced to re-establish the federal oversight authority that had been struck by the court.

“Protecting every American’s constitutional right to vote is a fundamental value of our society”. And they have gone after the right with a vengeance including here in Wisconsin.

She was referring to the fact that even after the district court ruled against the Texas ID law, it has remained in force for four statewide elections. Resultantly, Blacks have been taking advantage of their voting rights, as statistics have shown that they have frequently had greater turnout than white counterparts in presidential elections since 1965. When it was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on August 6, 1965, it eliminated the poll taxes, grandfather clauses and literacy tests that had disenfranchised African Americans since the Reconstruction era.

The Constitution says little about voting, leaving the subject to the states. Some of the early colonies banned Catholics and Jews from the polls. The Voting Rights Act is credited with enfranchising racial minorities across the U.S. and especially in the South. Efforts to pass a fix to that provision have stalled in Congress. But, why are so few Black Americans exercising that right? Decades later, blacks still were fighting official southern resistance.

“The Sierra Club is working with our partners in the Democracy Initiative to urge Congress to update and strengthen the Voting Rights Act by supporting the Voting Rights Advancement Act, and to help move toward a democracy that truly represents all Americans.”.

But Pierce said “there is still work to be done”.

Fifty years ago today, voting in the United States was changed forever.

There is ongoing litigation in North Carolina, as well as in Ohio and Wisconsin.

On Wednesday, a federal appeals panel found a Texas voter ID law violated the act.

At the same time, some state legislatures have implemented policies and procedures that may on the surface seem neutral – such as restrictions on early voting and certain requirements for photo identification – but are actually discouraging people from voting, Obama said.

Steve Murray, director of the Alabama Department of Archives and History, said it was important to recognize the movement to gain equal voting rights came as the results of some setbacks, but an ultimate victory.