Reply #10: GA: Voting right on Voting Rights [View All]

The Sunday Paper

By Diane Loupe

More than 40 years ago, there were certain places in the country that had some problems with allowing democracy to work the way it was supposed to. In Georgia, Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia, the Department of Justice found enough voting irregularities—mostly related to black voters’ access to the poles—to prompt it to enact the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which prohibited those states from enacting any new laws affecting voting without the consent of the DOJ. The DOJ would only give such approval if it determined that the changes did not have a discriminatory purpose and would not have a discriminatory effect. The department could also appoint federal examiners and even elections monitors to make sure that everyone qualified to vote was free to do so.

Under the Act, there are also counties in New York, California, Florida, North Carolina and South Dakota that are subject to special scrutiny, as are certain towns in Michigan and New Hampshire.

But many Republicans and even some Democrats in Congress have for more than a month now stalled the vote on renewing the act which would mean that it would go into effect for another 25 years. They claim that it’s time to stop punishing states, counties and towns for sins committed more than 40 years ago. Nationally, all eyes are on Georgia where the issue is especially intense because the state’s new voter ID law, just passed in this year’s legislative session, may very well be affected by the renewal—or non-renewal—of the federal act.

http://www.sundaypaper.com/NEWS/News/NewsArchives/tabid/202/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/1588/070206-News.aspx