Obama calls for restoration of Voting Rights Act

The decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit pertained to one of a series of laws enacted in Republican-governed states requiring potential voters to show identification that Democrats saw as intended to disenfranchise minorities who typically support their party.

The Voting Rights Act has been renewed four times since with little fanfare, most recently in 2006, when Congress overwhelmingly voted to extend the law another 25 years. Otherwise, he said the battles civil rights activists fought for, such as on “Bloody Sunday” 50 years ago, will erode and so will democracy.

Perkins said the historically black PNBC, which is holding its annual meeting in Dallas this week, is joining other religious and civic groups to challenge restrictions in state voting laws. Republicans say the requirements protect against voter fraud. But the measure didn’t stop all injustices against black people, who were often prevented from voting by discriminatory laws in the South. Poll taxes and literacy tests were often used as a prerequisite for casting a ballot. Some of them would not have been possible without the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 decision that gutted the Voting Rights Act. That ruling freed several states, mostly in the South, from strict federal oversight.

The voter ID law struck down in Texas could set a trend for 30 other states across the U.S.

Veasey, who couldn’t immediately be reached for comment, has said the law puts a burden on the voter.

A federal appeals court strikes down part of Texas’ Voter ID law as unconstitutional – the ruling coming on the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act being signed into law.

Obama called the law “one of our nation’s most influential pieces of legislation” for protecting the right of minorities to vote. Out of all the voter suppression laws in America (such as Wisconsin and North Carolina), the Texas law was considered the harshest and most conservative.

“We want the Congress to know, and the world to know, that everyone deserves the right to vote”, said convention attendee Kip Banks.

The president also encouraged citizens to not let cynicism cause them to avoid the polls and they should “seize the power [they] have”, through voting and mobilizing as well. A week ago I joined with my Congressional colleagues to call for restoring the legislation to ensure that each and every eligible American has the opportunity to exercise their constitutional right to vote.