by Elenora Giddings Ivory

Key Sections of The Voting Rights Act of 1965 are set to expire in 2007. It is not too early to ask your Representative and Senators to vote for their extension and reauthorization.

Passage of The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) was cause for celebration within the African American community and civil rights organizations across the nation. Over the last few years, there have been rumors that the Act will expire in 2007 and that voting rights will once again be taken away or aggressively challenged for people of color. It appears that certain parts of this provision are set to expire. They are:

1. Section 5 "pre-clearance" provisions which require jurisdictions in all or part of 16 states to submit voting changes to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) or the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for pre-clearance before they can be implemented;
2. Section 203 minority language provisions which require more than 450 counties and townships to provide language assistance where there are significant numbers of voters with limited-English proficiency; and
3. The examiner and observer provisions which authorize DOJ to appoint an examiner or send observers to any jurisdiction covered by Section 5.

There was a period in the history of the United States when African American voters were subjected to a different standard of scrutiny when they wanted to vote. Examiners were needed to observe local procedures to make sure that things like poll taxes or literacy tests were not being used to keep African Americans from voting.

It is obvious that these provisions are of utmost importance to the communities of people who suffered discriminatory actions prior to 1965. Given that racially motivated violations and voting irregularities have been found in various parts of the country, Congress saw fit to reauthorize the examiner provision in 1970, 1975, and 1982. The original VRA gave a five-year limit to these provisions. The minority language provision was first enacted in 1975 and was reauthorized in 1982 and 1992.

The right to vote is perhaps the single most important right in a democratic society. Though the U.S. Constitution 'secures' that right for its citizens, history shows that not all were accorded this privilege.

This nation began with voting rights for white male land owners only. In 1776, those barred from voting included Catholics, Jews, and Quakers, as well as women, and African American slaves. Latinos in Texas and other parts of the Southwest were denied voting rights. Native Americans and Asians were not permitted to vote in parts of the western U.S. In fact, the 1790 Naturalization Act even barred Asian immigrants from becoming citizens, automatically excluding them from the voting booth.

Prior to the VRA of 1965, an estimated 23 percent of voting-age African Americans were registered to vote in the U.S. In the 1969 elections, after passage of the VRA, that number increased to 61 percent.

Historically, the February 3, 1870 ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution should have secured these voting rights. It reads: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation." It gave African American men the right to vote. (All women were denied voting until the Nineteenth Amendment was passed (1920).

Now, more than 135 years after the Fifteenth Amendment, the nation is still debating voting rights and what constitutes fairness. The Supreme Court has deliberated on several voting rights cases.

1980 — City of Mobile v. Bolden

Here the Court held that Section 2 of VRA could be determined to have been violated if a voter could show that the questionable policy or procedure was motivated by a discriminatory reason. Congress mitigated the effect of this decision by passing a 1982 law that said the effect of a procedure would be proof enough of intent of a jurisdiction to cause discrimination against minority voters. Congress also amended the VRA in 1982 to say that someone who is blind, disabled or illiterate could ask for voting assistance in the voting both by anyone they would like to bring with them or call upon.

1993 — Shaw v. Reno

The results of the 1990 Census brought a realignment of voting districts through a congressional redistricting process. For the first time, significant numbers of African Americans and Latinos were elected from new districts where there were sizable populations of people of color. In the Shaw case, the 12th district of North Carolina elected the first African American since the post- slavery reconstruction period. This new district was challenged in this Supreme Court case, and found to be "bizarrely shaped."

There are likely to be changes of at least two or three justices on the Supreme Court over the next few years. Since the Court has not always found in favor of minority voting rights, it is important to address this issue legislatively. (For instance, prior to the 1965 VRA, on June 8, 1959, in Lassiter v. Northampton County, the Supreme Court held that literacy tests for voting in North Carolina did not violate the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments.)

Other Voting Rights Bills in Congress

H. J. RES. 1 - Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States regarding presidential election voting rights for residents of all United States territories and commonwealths. On January 4, 2005 Virgin Islands Delegate Donna Christensen (D) and Del. Madeleine Z. Bordallo (D) of Guam, introduced a joint resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. It calls for an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, to give the citizens of these Islands the right to vote in the U.S. election for President and Vice President on account of residency in a territory or commonwealth of the United States. This is similar to the rights extended to the citizens of the District of Columbia.

H.R. 939 - To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require a voter-verified paper record, and to improve provisional balloting. Sponsored by Rep. Jones (D-OH-11) with 63 co-sponsors. Here is a summary of what it hopes to accomplish:

1. requirements for voter verification and manual audit capacity;
2. accessibiliity of the voting system for language minority individuals in a manner that provides the same opportunity for access, participation, inspection, and verification as for other voters;
3. prohibition of the use of undisclosed software and of wireless communication devices in voting systems;
4. certification of software and hardware used in electronic voting systems;
5. security standards for manufacturers of voting systems used in Federal elections;
6. mandatory recounts;
7. study, testing, and development of best practices to enhance accessibility and voter verification mechanisms for disabled voters;
8. voter verification and audit capacity funding;
9. security consultation services;
10. casting and counting of provisional ballots;
11. minimum required voting systems, poll workers, and election resources;
12. remedial plans for States with excessive voter wait times;
13. absentee voting;
14. public reports on Federal elections;
15. training of election officials;
16. impartial administration of elections;
17. standards for purging voters;
18. election day registration and early voting;
19. voter registration and identification;
20. prohibition of certain campaign activities;
21. voting rights of individuals convicted of criminal offenses;
22. election day as a public holiday; and
23. the Election Assistance Commission.

H.R 398 and S 195 (1/26/05) - Entitled "No Taxation without Representation." It pertains to the lack of voting rights for residence of the District of Columbia. Sponsored by Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, with 36 co-sponsers in the House. Sen. Lieberman (D-CT) and nine others are bringing forth a Senate version. It would provide for full voting representation in Congress for the DC citizens. Bill sponsors note:

1. The residents of the District of Columbia are the only Americans who pay Federal income taxes and who have fought and died in every American war but are denied voting representation in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
2. The residents of the District of Columbia suffer the very injustice against which our Founding Fathers fought, because they do not have voting representation as other taxpaying Americans do and are nevertheless required to pay Federal income taxes unlike the Americans who live in the territories.
3. The principle of one person, one vote requires that residents of the District of Columbia are afforded full voting representation in the House and the Senate.
4. Despite the denial of voting representation, Americans in the Nation's Capital are third among residents of all States in per capita income taxes paid to the Federal Government.
5. Unequal voting representation in our representative democracy is inconsistent with the founding principles of the Nation and the strongly held principles of the American people today.

H.R.1300 - "Civic Participation and Rehabilitation Act of 2005." This bill would ensure the Federal voting rights of persons who have been released from incarceration after serving time for their crime. This right of citizenship would be restored. Sponsored by Rep. Conyers (D-MI-14) and introduced 3/15/2005. There are 31 co-sponsors. It states that the right of an individual who is a citizen of the United States to vote in any election for Federal office shall not be denied or abridged because that individual has been convicted of a criminal offense unless such individual is serving a felony sentence in a correctional institute or facility at the time of the election.

The bill would authorize the Attorney General, in a civil action, to obtain declaratory or injunctive relief to remedy a violation of this Act.

The Civil Rights Movement in the Light of Christian Teaching (1965 - PCUS, pp. 158-161)

. . . The paper examines the present civil rights movement in the light of Christian teaching.

In the South, this has been largely a movement by Negroes. Its scope, however, includes all minority groups in the nation, and these groups are included by implication throughout this study. The intent of the movement has been to obtain for Negroes - and for all minority groups - the rights and responsibilities which have been denied them simply because they are Negroes. . .

They have consequently suffered untold economic loss because they are Negroes. Far worse than this, they have also suffered indignities and humiliation because they are Negroes.

In the Christian view, God is no respecter of persons; Christ died for all. Therefore, the discriminatory treatment of Negroes because they are Negroes is clearly un-Christian, and all Christian should approve them in their determination to be accepted on equal terms with others.

"Respect" or Love?

. . . It is not enough for the Christian to respect the Negro as an immortal soul; he must love him as a whole man, a fellow inhabitant of this world, and, as regards civic life, as a fellow citizen.

It is at this point that our so-called Christian society has failed the Negro. For we who are Christian in society have failed in great measure to demonstrate this love in our daily relationships to the Negro.

1982 Statement (UPCUSA, p. 425) The 194th General Assembly (1982):

Affirms the constitutional and civil rights of all persons within this country, including undocumented aliens, and declares its opposition not only to individuals and racial hate groups but also to government and businesses seeking to make racial-ethnic persons in general and racial-ethnic aliens in particular scapegoats for the current economic problems of our society.

Affirms all efforts to include actively all citizens in the election process, including the use of bilingual ballots as mandated by the Voting Rights Act, and declares its opposition to actions by government that have the effect of discouraging such exercise of citizens rights.

The right of all persons to representation in the process of government-the Assemblies have repeatedly supported calls for voting representation in Congress for the District of Columbia (UPCUSA, 1970, pp. 86, 883; PCUS, 1970, p. 37; PCUS, 1979, p. 89; UPCUSA, 1979, p. 83).

TAKE ACTION

Portions of The Voting Rights Act of 1965 are set to sunset in 2007. It is not too early to contact your Senators and Representative to urge them to vote for extension and reauthorization. Letters to the President would be advisable. Letters to the Editor of your local or state-wide newspapers would alert fellow citizens of your state.

Call the Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121

Write to:

The Honorable (First Name, Last Name)
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator (Last Name)

The Honorable (First Name, Last Name)
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Mr./Mrs./Ms. (Last Name)

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Call (202) 456-1414

You can also organize visits to your representative's office with members of other denominations. Before the mid-term election of 2006, ask ALL candidates where they stand on reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act provision as identified here.