House May Vote Tonight on Amendment to 'Gut' VRA
Feature Story by Nathan Go - 6/28/2006
In another attempt to weaken our nation's most effective civil rights law, Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fl., proposed Monday to strike a blow to Sect. 203 of the Voting Rights Act that provides language assistance to minorities.The amendment, No. 21 to the SSJC appropriations bill H.R. 5672, directs the Department of Justice not to expend funds to enforce the minority language provisions of the VRA, essentially subverting the VRA reauthorization process.
The House is expected to vote on the amendment later tonight.
"This latest attack will gut the VRA and effectively disenfranchise language minority citizens," said Julie Fernandes, senior policy counsel at the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.
"The denial of language assistance to citizens who need it amounts to a modern-day literacy test for voting," said Fernandes.
This latest development comes on the heels of a stalled vote in the House last week, which was hijacked by a group of Southern Republicans, led by Lynn Westmoreland, R. Ga., objected to the language provisions. Civil rights groups state that this new amendment is yet another attempt to scapegoat minorities and disenfranchise those citizens who do not speak English well.
Key provisions of the VRA will expire next summer: Section 5, the federal pre-clearance provision, which requires certain jurisdictions to obtain federal approval before making any voting or election changes; Section 203, which requires certain jurisdictions to provide language assistance to limited English proficient voters; and Sections 6-9, which authorize the Department of Justice to send federal examiners and observers to monitor elections.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was last reauthorized in 1982.
