Georgia Voting Rights Report Highlights Continued Need for Expiring Provisions
Feature Story by civilrights.org staff - 6/26/2006
Ongoing attempts to disenfranchise African-American and other minority voters in Georgia have led the Department of Justice to object to 91 voting changes in the state since the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) was last renewed in 1982. Only Mississippi and Texas have had more objections in that time period.A new report from RenewtheVRA.org that examines the state of voting rights in Georgia explains how the VRA's requirement that the state submit all election changes to the Department of Justice (DOJ) before enacting them has played a key role in protecting blacks' voting rights.
Many of the DOJ's objections post-1982 in Georgia involved election changes specifically designed to diminish African-American voting power. For instance, Macon, Georgia carved up an area in April 1987 just to remove an African American legislator from office.
And twice, the city of McDonough (in November 1982 and December 1984) diluted African-American voting strength by fracturing the African-American community into three districts. DOJ said the three districts were created in "an unnatural and wholly unnecessary way."
The most glaring example of discrimination was in Long and Atkinson counties where Hispanic voters in 2004 had to prove their citizenship just because they had Spanish last names. In Atkinson County, they were forced to appear at a hearing and provide proof of their citizenship.
The report's release came after a small group of House Republicans, including Lynn Westmoreland, R.Ga., derailed an important vote to renew key protections in a law largely considered the most successful civil rights legislation ever enacted.
Refuting claims by House Republicans that the law is punitive, Julie Fernandes, senior policy analyst for the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), said. "It is not burdensome if you're not discriminating," said Fernandes.
Georgia State Representative Tyrone Brooks, president of the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials, said that getting the VRA renewed should be the "first priority" for Congress.
Fernandes, who decried the Republicans' attempt to politicize a "human rights issue" like the VRA, said, "African Americans have been political footballs for too long."
"It is essential that there are laws in place that protect the voting rights of minorities, that allow them to cast their ballot," said LCCR Executive Director Wade Henderson.
The VRA prohibits discrimination based on race. Three key provisions of the VRA will expire in August 2007 if Congress does not act now to renew them: Section 5, which requires preclearance of voting changes in states and localities with a history of voting discrimination, Section 203, which require counties where more than 5 percent of citizens are not native English speakers to provide language assistance, and Sections 6-9, which authorize the Department of Justice to send federal examiners and observers to monitor elections.
