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Contact: Media@dcacluorg
WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union today strongly condemned a
proposal by several Republican members of Congress to "modernize" the Voting
Rights Act, noting that the move would actually gut a key enforcement provision
of the historic civil rights law. The amendment was to be offered to H.R. 9,
"The Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act
Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006," that was introduced with strong
bipartisan support on May 2.
The reauthorization bill was slated for discussion and a vote on the House
floor on June 20, and the authors of the amendments forced a delay in action as
they had found little support.
"When some Members of Congress claim they support the Voting Rights Act, and
just want to `modernize’ it, they are being completely hypocritical," said
Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. "Their
proposal would actually gut one of the Voting Rights Act’s key provisions. This
is political double-talk at its worst, and is particularly offensive given that
the right to vote is at stake."
The amendment, sponsored by Rep. Charlie Norwood of Georgia, and supported by
other Republican members of the Georgia delegation, including Rep. Lynn
Westmoreland, would "update" the formula used to determine which states and
local governments would retain the protection of Section 5 of the VRA, which
requires jurisdictions with significant histories of discrimination in voting to
get federal approval of any new voting practices or procedures. On June 20, the
House Committee on Rules allowed Norwood’s amendment to be considered when
Congress votes on H.R. 9.
Currently nine states (Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama,
Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arizona and Arkansas) and portions of seven
others (New York, California, North Carolina, Florida, Michigan, New Hampshire
and South Dakota) are covered by Section 5. Under the Norwood amendment Hawaii
would be the only state fully covered.
Instead of relying on the extensive record of voting discrimination in the
covered jurisdictions, Norwood's amendment would rely on levels of voter turnout
in the last three presidential elections to determine
which states, if any, would remain covered. His amendment would put only Hawaii
under the coverage of the protective pre-clearance provisions of the Voting
Rights Act.
"The proposal sponsored by Representatives Norwood, Westmoreland and others
would render Section 5 meaningless," said Laughlin McDonald, Director of the
ACLU Voting Rights Project. "It would make Hawaii - a state which has never been
subject to the pre-clearance requirement - the only covered state in the nation.
States like Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi and South Dakota, with
egregious and especially well-documented histories of discrimination, could
adopt new voting practices without having to show that they did not have a
discriminatory purpose or effect."
The ACLU has urged Congress to quickly adopt a clean reauthorization of the
Voting Rights Act, and stressed the importance of continuing legislation that
ensures all citizens have an equal opportunity to participate in the political
process.
"The Norwood-Westmoreland proposal is a backdoor attempt to repeal Section
5," said LaShawn Warren, an ACLU Legislative Counsel. "Congress has repeatedly
reauthorized the Voting Rights Act based on continuing racial polarization and
attempts by covered jurisdictions to discriminate against minority voters. And
the courts have consistently rejected claims that Section 5 is unconstitutional
and that the coverage formula is ‘outdated.’ As one court held, Section 5 has a
'much larger purpose' than to increase voter participation. Norwood,
Westmoreland and their supporters are trying to eliminate vital protections of
the Voting Rights Act."
H.R. 9 would also reauthorize two other key enforcement provisions of the
Voting Rights Act: Section 203, which ensures that U.S. citizen voters with
limited English proficiency get the help they need at the polls; and Section 8,
which authorizes the attorney general to appoint federal election observers
where there is evidence of attempts to intimidate minority voters at the polls.
The ACLU noted that all three sections have been essential to eliminating and
deterring voting discrimination and granting access to the ballot box for
minority citizens, but Section 5 has drawn the most opposition from a dissident
faction of Republican lawmakers.
The ACLU's letter to Congress urging passage of H.R. 9 is
available at: www.aclu.org/votingrights/gen/25951leg20060620.html
