Guest Post: 40th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act
Posted by Josh McConaha on August 5, 2005 at 04:10 PM
As our final guest blogger this week commemerating the tomorrow's anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, we have Congressman Charles A. Gonzalez from Texas.
Tomorrow marks the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. Initially adopted by Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965 to guarantee that no person would be denied the right to vote because of race or color, the Voting Rights Act is considered by many the most successful piece of civil rights legislation ever adopted by the United States Congress.
As part of the 1975 reauthorization of the law, the Voting Rights Act was expanded to include Hispanics through a new requirement that all ballots be language appropriate, thus enfranchising millions of Spanish speaking voters. At that time, about two and a half million Latinos were registered to vote. Today there are 9.3 million Latinos registered to vote, with over 7.5 million Latinos casting a ballot in the 2004 presidential election.
The number of people relying on the protections offered by the Voting Rights Act is growing. That is why I believe we need a 25 year extension of the Voting Rights Act, and why we should take this opportunity to improve language provisions in the law.
Currently, Section 203 of the VRA requires certain jurisdictions to provide bilingual assistance to language minority citizens at all stages of the voting process and in all elections to guarantee that limited English proficient voters can participate in the political process.
I intend to work with my colleagues in the House of Representatives to improve this section by allowing the use of the Census Bureau's American Community Service data at five year intervals between each decennial census for determining whether a jurisdiction meets the threshold for being subject to Section 203.
In addition, we should expand coverage of language minority provisions by changing the formula used to determine which jurisdictions are required to provide language assistance, so that jurisdictions with at least 7,500 voting age citizens who speak a particular language recognized by the Voting Rights Act will able to receive ballots and other election materials in their language. Currently a jurisdiction needs 10,000 such citizens to trigger the provisions of Section 203.
Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act requires certain jurisdictions to submit changes in their electoral practices to the Department of Justice for "preclearance." This requirement has prevented jurisdictions from changing district lines or election procedures in a manner that discriminates against minority voters. We need to maintain the protections offered through Section 5, and we should expand its reach by allowing for objections to a change in district boundaries in cases where there is an intention to discriminate against minority voters.
Even though the right to vote is the story of our nation, today we often take for granted the Voting Rights Act and how it radically changed the administration and conduct of elections in this country. We no longer have poll taxes or literacy tests, yet with every election we are reminded of why we still need the protections offered by the Voting Rights Act.
--Congressman Charles A. Gonzalez
Comments - 19 »
Comments - 19 «
There is legislation proposed from time to time in many states that proposes an official language. It's obvious this is an attempt to circumvent voting rights and encourage voter suppression. Thank you, Rep. Gonzalez, for reminding us that we will always have to be vigalent in protecting this most precious of democratic principals.
Posted by SandyH on August 5, 2005 at 10:24 PM
There is legislation proposed from time to time in many states that proposes an official language. It's obvious this is an attempt to circumvent voting rights and encourage voter suppression. Thank you, Rep. Gonzalez, for reminding us that we will always have to be vigalent in protecting this most precious of democratic principals.
Posted by SandyH on August 5, 2005 at 10:24 PM
There is legislation proposed from time to time in many states that proposes an official language. It's obvious this is an attempt to circumvent voting rights and encourage voter suppression. Thank you, Rep. Gonzalez, for reminding us that we will always have to be vigalent in protecting this most precious of democratic principals.
Posted by SandyH on August 5, 2005 at 10:24 PM
There is legislation proposed from time to time in many states that proposes an official language. It's obvious this is an attempt to circumvent voting rights and encourage voter suppression. Thank you, Rep. Gonzalez, for reminding us that we will always have to be vigalent in protecting this most precious of democratic principals.
Posted by SandyH on August 5, 2005 at 10:25 PM
Sandy,
When I was very young, and my dad was some sort of professor of Pediatrics at the U of Arkansas, something fairly startling happened. One of his med students who was just about penultimately pregnant had her water break and went into labor outside Little Rock General. My mom (and RN) was with my dad, and they picked her up and carried her into the ER.
Well, it was time back, way back, and there was no Negroe entrance to the White hospital. These things don't figure in my family's considerations, so mom and dad were beating down the doors, and my dad threatened everybody's job if anything went amiss. Everything turned out alright.
Your comment about language reminded me of this story (and I have to admit that all of this DINO identification and progressive purity crap makes me conscious of this too). The story is about an old timer black guy that goes to the polls in Little Rock. The Good Ole' Boy poll watchers show him a newspaper in Mandarin and ask if he can read it. He stuns those Bubbas by insisting he knows exactly what that newspaper says. When they challenge the old man he says 'That newspaper says no nigger's going to vote in Pulaski county this year.' Ain't that America?
We were investigated as a family for two decades by the FBI over my dad's obvious pinko leanings in ensuring healthcare for a black woman. In the late 60s my parents tightened the bullseye on us in my brother Chris's eyes by taking part in blockbusting equal housing demonstrations.
Talk about child abuse. And how did I turn out to be such a liberal that doesn't really like 'progressives'. These people have no clue, and I'm not trying to make any sort of big deal about it. I do get the feeling that Abbey Hoffmann would be some sort of DINO for these people.
Posted by michaelj on August 6, 2005 at 12:27 AM
Sandy,
When I was very young, and my dad was some sort of professor of Pediatrics at the U of Arkansas, something fairly startling happened. One of his med students who was just about penultimately pregnant had her water break and went into labor outside Little Rock General. My mom (and RN) was with my dad, and they picked her up and carried her into the ER.
Well, it was time back, way back, and there was no Negroe entrance to the White hospital. These things don't figure in my family's considerations, so mom and dad were beating down the doors, and my dad threatened everybody's job if anything went amiss. Everything turned out alright.
Your comment about language reminded me of this story (and I have to admit that all of this DINO identification and progressive purity crap makes me conscious of this too). The story is about an old timer black guy that goes to the polls in Little Rock. The Good Ole' Boy poll watchers show him a newspaper in Mandarin and ask if he can read it. He stuns those Bubbas by insisting he knows exactly what that newspaper says. When they challenge the old man he says 'That newspaper says no nigger's going to vote in Pulaski county this year.' Ain't that America?
We were investigated as a family for two decades by the FBI over my dad's obvious pinko leanings in ensuring healthcare for a black woman. In the late 60s my parents tightened the bullseye on us in my brother Chris's eyes by taking part in blockbusting equal housing demonstrations.
Talk about child abuse. And how did I turn out to be such a liberal that doesn't really like 'progressives'. These people have no clue, and I'm not trying to make any sort of big deal about it. I do get the feeling that Abbey Hoffmann would be some sort of DINO for these people.
Posted by michaelj on August 6, 2005 at 12:27 AM
Sandy,
When I was very young, and my dad was some sort of professor of Pediatrics at the U of Arkansas, something fairly startling happened. One of his med students who was just about penultimately pregnant had her water break and went into labor outside Little Rock General. My mom (and RN) was with my dad, and they picked her up and carried her into the ER.
Well, it was time back, way back, and there was no Negroe entrance to the White hospital. These things don't figure in my family's considerations, so mom and dad were beating down the doors, and my dad threatened everybody's job if anything went amiss. Everything turned out alright.
Your comment about language reminded me of this story (and I have to admit that all of this DINO identification and progressive purity crap makes me conscious of this too). The story is about an old timer black guy that goes to the polls in Little Rock. The Good Ole' Boy poll watchers show him a newspaper in Mandarin and ask if he can read it. He stuns those Bubbas by insisting he knows exactly what that newspaper says. When they challenge the old man he says 'That newspaper says no nigger's going to vote in Pulaski county this year.' Ain't that America?
We were investigated as a family for two decades by the FBI over my dad's obvious pinko leanings in ensuring healthcare for a black woman. In the late 60s my parents tightened the bullseye on us in my brother Chris's eyes by taking part in blockbusting equal housing demonstrations.
Talk about child abuse. And how did I turn out to be such a liberal that doesn't really like 'progressives'. These people have no clue, and I'm not trying to make any sort of big deal about it. I do get the feeling that Abbey Hoffmann would be some sort of DINO for these people.
Posted by michaelj on August 6, 2005 at 12:28 AM
Sandy,
When I was very young, and my dad was some sort of professor of Pediatrics at the U of Arkansas, something fairly startling happened. One of his med students who was just about penultimately pregnant had her water break and went into labor outside Little Rock General. My mom (and RN) was with my dad, and they picked her up and carried her into the ER.
Well, it was time back, way back, and there was no Negroe entrance to the White hospital. These things don't figure in my family's considerations, so mom and dad were beating down the doors, and my dad threatened everybody's job if anything went amiss. Everything turned out alright.
Your comment about language reminded me of this story (and I have to admit that all of this DINO identification and progressive purity crap makes me conscious of this too). The story is about an old timer black guy that goes to the polls in Little Rock. The Good Ole' Boy poll watchers show him a newspaper in Mandarin and ask if he can read it. He stuns those Bubbas by insisting he knows exactly what that newspaper says. When they challenge the old man he says 'That newspaper says no nigger's going to vote in Pulaski county this year.' Ain't that America?
We were investigated as a family for two decades by the FBI over my dad's obvious pinko leanings in ensuring healthcare for a black woman. In the late 60s my parents tightened the bullseye on us in my brother Chris's eyes by taking part in blockbusting equal housing demonstrations.
Talk about child abuse. And how did I turn out to be such a liberal that doesn't really like 'progressives'. These people have no clue, and I'm not trying to make any sort of big deal about it. I do get the feeling that Abbey Hoffmann would be some sort of DINO for these people.
Posted by michaelj on August 6, 2005 at 12:29 AM
Pardon. I couldn't imagine the mechanism could screw up so repeatedly. Please excuse the multiple postings. Honestly, I was getting bizarre error messages. Bad enough I'm pedantic and verbose, but heedlessly repetitious is inexcusable.
Posted by michaelj on August 6, 2005 at 12:34 AM
Bad enough I'm pedantic and verbose, but heedlessly repetitious is inexcusable.
Too funny mj :)
Posted by dorsano on August 6, 2005 at 02:04 PM
Posted by dorsano on August 6, 2005 at 02:06 PM
Posted by dorsano on August 6, 2005 at 02:12 PM
Posted by michaelj on August 6, 2005 at 12:34 AM
mj, I must have the same problem.
Posted by SandyH on August 6, 2005 at 02:39 PM
Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyy GIG !! Thanks for participating for all of us who couldn't make it up there!
and thanks TONY for posting the pics!!
wooHOO! I saw a clip on the news andit looked like it was MASSIVE!
Posted by Dawnelle on August 6, 2005 at 09:36 PM
Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyy GIG !! Thanks for participating for all of us who couldn't make it up there!
and thanks TONY for posting the pics!!
wooHOO! I saw a clip on the news andit looked like it was MASSIVE!
Posted by Dawnelle on August 6, 2005 at 09:36 PM
Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyy GIG !! Thanks for participating for all of us who couldn't make it up there!
and thanks TONY for posting the pics!!
wooHOO! I saw a clip on the news andit looked like it was MASSIVE!
Posted by Dawnelle on August 6, 2005 at 09:37 PM
YayIG !! Thanks for participating for all of us who couldn't make it up there!
and thanks TONY for posting the pics!!
wooHOO! I saw a clip on the news andit looked like it was MASSIVE!
Posted by Dawnelle on August 6, 2005 at 09:37 PM
massive glitch over here........ kept not letting me post. Sorry from this end.
Peace!
Posted by Dawnelle on August 6, 2005 at 09:39 PM
I attended the Voting Rights March and Rally yesterday with a bus load of folks from Charlotte, NC. It was a wonderful day with rousing speeches, fine music, and a real sense of community among the thousands of participants. In fact, many friendships were made with people from all over the USA. Atlanta provided us warm hospitality, not to mention warm weather with blue skies. When we marched by Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., I wondered how many cities in America still do not have a street named for one of the most significant people in American history. My city does not, and I found a project. As we learned in the last two presidential elections, voting rights cannot be taken for granted. We must work hard to preserve and improve access and valid voting.
Susan Burgess, Charlotte City Council Member @ Large; Vice Chair, National Conference of Democratic Municipal Officials
Posted by SusanBurgess on August 7, 2005 at 09:17 PM
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