Civil Rights Experts Testify: Voting Rights Act Bill Restorative
Feature Story by Tyler Lewis - 5/10/2006
The nation's leading civil rights leaders are urging Congress to enact the bicameral, bipartisan voting rights bill introduced on May 2.Civil rights groups are supporting the new bill, HR 9/S 2703, "The Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006" because they say it will protect the voting rights of minorities and restore the VRA to its original vitality.
"Voter discrimination has remained ever present, even as gains have been made," said Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. "We are pleased that the bill reflects the intent of the Congress that enacted the original bill."
Dr. James Thomas Tucker, voting rights consultant for the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund, said that HR 9/S 2703 "makes it clear that Section 5 prohibits intentionally discriminatory voting practices and changes that prevent minority voters from electing their chosen candidates."
In the nearly 25 years since the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) was last renewed, two Supreme Court cases have narrowed its effectiveness - Reno v. Bossier Parish School Bd. II (2000) and Georgia v. Ashcroft (2002).
At a House Subcommittee on the Constitution hearing on May 4, civil rights and voting rights experts testified about why the new bill had to address Bossier and Ashcroft.
According to voting rights experts, both cases reinterpret Congress's original intent , thereby diluting the power of the VRA to prohibit discriminatory voting practices. Debo Adegbile, associate director of litigation at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc, said that the court in Bossier "in effect, judicially overrode Congress's intent rather than effectuating it."
"It is unnecessary and inefficient for the federal government to turn a blind eye to purposefully discriminatory acts while covered jurisdictions persist in, renew, or develop invidious voting schemes," said Adegbile.
Civil rights groups have insisted that the preclearance provision is the heart of the VRA. The preclearance provision requires certain jurisdictions to submit any voting or election change to the Department of Justice for approval before enactment.
As states become more racially diverse, the VRA will become more important. In her testimony, Karen Narasaki, president and executive director of the Asian American Justice Center, said that five of the states covered entirely by the preclearance provision and four other states with partial coverage are among the top 20 states with the fastest growing Asian-American populations.
On May 10, HR 9/S 2703 made it out of the House Judiciary Committee, without amendment, by a vote of 33-1. A full vote in the House is expected in the coming weeks.
