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VOTING RIGHTS ACT
Rumors are running rampant (mostly via the internet) that when
provisions of the Voting Rights Act expire in the year 2007, African
Americans will lose their right to vote. This rumor is completely
false!
African Americans are guaranteed the right to vote by the 15th Amendment
to the U.S. Constitution, which was passed just after the civil
war, and which does not expire. The voting rights of people of
color are further protected by the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which
insures that no federal, state or local government may in any way
impede people from registering to vote or voting because of the
color of their skin. The majority of the Voting Rights Act of 1965,
and specifically the portions that guarantee that no one may be
denied the right to vote because of his or her race or color, are
also permanent.
There are provisions within the Voting Rights Act that provide
for “extraordinary remedies” to combat the blatant discrimination
that existed prior to the passage of the Act in 1965, especially
in some southern states, when the Act was first passed. Specifically,
these remedies were intended to address the problems faced by many
African Americans and other ethnic minorities when they attempted
to register themselves or others to vote. They often risked losing
their jobs, their homes, or even their lives. Included in these “extraordinary
remedies” are allowing the U.S. Attorney General to send in people
to register voters when the local authorities refused to register
Americans because of the color of their skin and allowing the U.S.
Attorney to send federal observers to monitor elections. Federal
legislators hoped that within five years the problems would be
resolved and there would be no further need for these “extraordinary
remedies.” However, it proved necessary to extend these in 1970,
and again in 1975 and 1982. They are currently set to expire in
2007, at which time they may be extended again by an act of Congress.
These “extraordinary remedies” are the only portion of this important
Act that is, at risk of not continuing to be the law of the land.
African Americans are not going to lose their right to vote in
the year 2007 when certain provisions of the Voting Rights Act
of 1965 expire. |
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