Voting Rights Act Clarification
The Department of Justice has received numerous inquiries concerning a rumor that has been intermittently circulating around the nation for many months. According to this rumor, the Voting Rights Act will expire in 2007, and as a result African Americans are in danger of losing the right to vote in that year.
The rumor is false. The voting rights of African Americans are guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Voting Rights Act, and those guarantees are permanent and do not expire.
Here is a summary of relevant provisions of the Voting Rights Act:
The 15th amendment to the Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibit racial discrimination in voting. Under the 15th amendment and the Voting Rights Act no one may be denied the right to vote because of his or her race or color.
These prohibitions against racial discrimination in voting are permanent; they do not expire.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was enacted at a time when for decades in some areas of the South blacks had not been permitted to vote, and blacks who attempted to register to vote or to organize or assist others to attempt to register to vote risked losing their jobs, their homes, even their lives.
To combat this situation Congress included in the Voting Rights Act -- in addition to permanent provisions banning racial discrimination -- special provisions containing extraordinary remedies that applied in certain areas of the nation for a limited time period.
Among these extraordinary remedies are--
the authorization of the U.S. Attorney General to send federal registrars (examiners) to register voters, in counties where the local registrar refuses to register blacks. [Section 6, 42 U.S.C. § 1973d]
the authorization of the U.S. Attorney General to send federal observers to monitor elections, to make sure that blacks who are eligible to vote are actually permitted to vote, and that their votes are actually counted. [Section 8, 42 U.S.C. § 1973f]
The requirement that specially covered jurisdictions gain the approval of the U.S. Attorney General before implementing new voting practices or procedures, to make sure that any voting changes that they make are not racially discriminatory. [Section 5, 42 U.S.C. § 1973c]
These special provisions containing extraordinary remedies were intended to be of limited duration. They were originally scheduled to expire in 1970, but they were extended in 1970, and again in 1975 and 1982. They are now scheduled to expire in 2007, if not further extended.
Even if the special provisions are allowed to expire, they can be reinstated by court order if there is a renewal of discriminatory practices.
The basic prohibition against discrimination in voting contained in the 15th amendment and in the Voting Rights Act does not expire in 2007 -- it does not expire at all; it is permanent.
http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting/misc/clarify3.htm
PERMANENT???
Voting Rights Act of 1965 -- History and Overview
The Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1973 to 1973bb-1, was enacted in 1965 to end the whites-only electoral system followed by much of the South. Because the remedies provided by earlier civil rights acts (in 1957, 1960, and 1964) and the organizing work of the civil rights movement had been unable to open the franchise to blacks in many areas of the South, Congress enacted the stern and innovative new law. Prior to the Voting Rights Act, blacks were prevented from registering to vote through abuses of the voter registration process (including literacy tests), violence and threats of violence, and economic coercion. The poll tax and white primaries further limited black participation.
The Voting Rights Act banned the use of literacy tests and other tests and devices that had been misapplied (Section 4), authorized federal registration of voters where local registrars would not open voter registration to blacks (Section 6), authorized the appointment of federal observers to monitor polling place activities on election day to assure that the newly enfranchised blacks would be permitted to vote and that their votes would be counted (Section 8), and allowed new laws affecting voting to be implemented only if they were proven not to have a discriminatory purpose or effect (Section 5). By means of a formula set out in the Act, these special provisions applied (initially for a five-year period) to areas with a record of discrimination (Section 4), while general anti-discrimination provisions applied to the nation as a whole.
I wonder why the "five-year period"?......How does that time frame imply PERMANENT?
Amendments to the Act in 1970, 1975, 1982, and 1992, applied the ban on tests and devices nationwide and made it permanent; extended the special provisions to 2007; added minority language requirements (also due to expire in 2007) to the Act; and strengthened the general nondiscrimination provision of the Voting Rights Act (Section 2) to clarify that it bans practices that have a discriminatory result as well as those that have a discriminatory purpose.
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title8/cvr00019.htm
Will Black Voting Rights Expire in 2007?
False email rumor claims that the right of African Americans to vote is set to expire in 2007 along with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 . (FALSE??)
The kernel of truth in the above is that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is indeed set to expire unless it is renewed by Congress before 2007. The rest is false. The basic right of all Americans to vote, regardless of race, is guaranteed in the Bill of Rights and can't expire with the Voting Rights Act.
I don't know if you noticed but this paragraph contains an 'oxymoron'.
FULL TEXT of the email.
http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/weekly/aa120298.htm
Read more on the subject.
http://www.naacpldf.org/content.aspx?article=313
http://www.votescount.com/votrights.htm
http://www.civilrights.org/campaigns/vra/learn_more/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/v/votingrights.htm
What new provisions will the 2007 revisit yield?....Hint: watch the simultaneous development of the Patriot's Act; as well as other proposals involving 'repeals' of the constitution.
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