Voting Rights Act Reauthorized

by Jonah Goldman

July 27, 2006: The National Campaign for Fair Elections commends the United States Congress for overwhelmingly passing the "Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization Act of 2006." With historic bipartisan support in both houses, Congress will continue the 40 year legacy of the Voting Rights Act by protecting minority voters from the continuing specter of discrimination in our electoral process.

In addition to reauthorizing this legislation, the House defeated four harmful amendments that threatened to undermine the protections the bill provides for traditionally disenfranchised Americans. As Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Executive Director Barbara Arnwine said, "In a House so often divided, this historic vote brings hope by showing that some issues transcend the poisonous partisanship that we are so used to in Washington. No right defines us as Americans more than the right to vote. Today, we will rest as a nation knowing that our representatives recognize that our national values and our national voice grow out of the ability of every eligible American, regardless of race or ethnicity, to cast a ballot and have their voice heard." Ms. Arnwine, members of the Lawyers' Committee's Board of Directors and staff, and members of our National Commission on the Voting Rights Act attended the Voting Rights Act signing ceremony.

Barbara Arnwine wrote an Op-Ed in the June 27, 2006 Philadelphia Tribune encouraging reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act.

Philadelphia Tribune, Protect Democracy by Renewing the Voting Rights Act

On February 21, the Lawyers' Committee released the Report of the National Commission on the Voting Rights Act, Protecting Minority Voters: The Voting Rights Act, 1982-2005. The 125-page report uncovered substantial findings of continued discrimination across the country. The report also suggests that the VRA has been a powerful deterrent against disenfranchisement and an important safeguard to equal ballot access. On March 8, 2006, Commission Chair Bill Lann Lee and Commissioner Joe Rogers testified before the House Subcommittee on the Constitution during hearings on the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act. Additionally, Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisconsin), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, requested that the Report of the National Commission on the Voting Rights Act be submitted into the Congressional record.

Read the report here.