Report of Blue Ribbon Commission Finds Threats to Voting Rights Still Strong
Feature Story by civilrights.org staff - 2/27/2006
A new report from a nonpartisan, blue ribbon commission describes widespread voting discrimination and calls for full reauthorization of the provisions of the Voting Rights Act set to expire in August 2007.From its initial passage of the Voting Rights Act, Congress has relied on an extensive record of discrimination in voting to justify the need for the remedies imposed by the expiring provisions. Recognizing the need for a substantive record of continuing voting discrimination and the Voting Rights Act's effectiveness at keeping them at bay, civil rights groups formed the National Commission on the Voting Rights Act, and began to hold hearings around the country to gather data and information.
The Commission's report, "Protecting Minority Voters: The Voting Rights Act at Work," synthesizes testimony from 10 hearings on the Act and details discrimination in voting since 1982, the last time the Voting Rights Act was reauthorized. The Voting Rights Act has been reauthorized four times since it was enacted in 1965.
According to the report, restricted ballot access and minority vote dilution, "the two major problems which have been the focus of the Act", continue to be a problem for the nation.
"The past and the present look a whole lot alike in the prevalence of racial discrimination in voting," Barbara Arnwine, director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, told the Associated Press.
The Commission found that most federal enforcement efforts have taken place since the 1982 reauthorization, hitting a peak in the early 1990s. Fifty-six percent of the total number of Section 5 objections by the Department of Justice were initiated after 1982.
According to the report, "standard dilutive techniques" of racial gerrymandering, at-large elections, and annexing predominantly white suburbs while excluding minority areas, are still used frequently to disenfranchise minority voters.
Three key provisions of the Voting Rights Act will be up for renewal on August 6, 2007: 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.
On October 18, the first in a series of hearings was convened to discuss the role the Voting Rights Act has played and continues to play in ending discrimination and promoting equal opportunity in voting. The Commission's report will be made part of the congressional record around reauthorization.
