Voting Rights Act Reauthorization: Congress Must Resist Obstructionists and Vote Today

Summary

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It should not be surprising that both [Lynn Westmoreland] and [Charlie Norwood] hail from Georgia, where, the state legislature tried to impose a photo identification requirement upon voters without making provisions for those who couldn't afford to shell out $20 for a five-year state-issued ID. The state's pre-clearance plan received U.S. Justice Department approval in August of 2005, over staff objections, only to fail in the courts.

Had the courts not intervened in Georgia, poor, elderly and African American would have lost their voting rights. So, it's obvious that while major strides have been made, there's still vast room for improvement. The Voting Rights Act's enactment was a hard-won victory of the civil rights movement. Against the backdrop of the "Bloody Sunday" violence against civil rights demonstrators in Selma, Ala., President Lyndon Johnson unveiled the legislation to Congress on March 15, 1965. Nearly five months later, he signed it into law after it passed House and Senate muster with only token opposition, mainly from lawmakers in states covered by Section 5.

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Voting Rights Act Reauthorization: Congress Must Resist Obstructionists and Vote Today

The Voting Rights Act reauthorization recently suffered a political setback in the U.S. House after the GOP leadership caved into opposition by a small group of right-wing extremists, abruptly canceling a vote on extendin...

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