Home : Voting Rights

ACLU Calls on Congress to Honor Parks’ Memory, Says Voting Rights Act Must be Fully Reauthorized (12/01/2005)
WASHINGTON -- "Fifty years ago today, Rosa L. Parks’ courageous refusal to surrender her seat on a Montgomery bus sparked the modern civil rights movement that ultimately led to the end of legal racial segregation.

ACLU Study Finds Kentuckians are Being Denied the Right to Vote Because of Faulty Information (11/21/2005)
FRANKFORT, KY -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky today released a study showing that alarming numbers of county and state officials provide inaccurate information to people with criminal convictions seeking restoration of their voting rights.

Justice Department Decision on Voting Rights Likely Swayed by Politics, ACLU Raises Serious Concerns About Undermining of Voting Rights Act (11/17/2005)
WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union today expressed concerns that the Justice Department rejected the recommendations of its own team of voting rights experts when it approved a Georgia voter identification law. The experts issued a detailed 51-page memorandum that showed that the proposal would discriminate against minority voters. The decision to reject their recommendation was revealed today in a front-page story in the Washington Post.

ACLU Disappointed by Supreme Court’s Decision Not to Review Florida’s System of Lifetime Felon Disenfranchisement (11/14/2005)
MIAMI -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida today expressed disappointment over the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision not to review a state law that bars citizens with felony convictions from voting, even after they have completed their term of prison, probation and parole.

ACLU Disappointed by Supreme Court’s Decision Not to Review Florida’s System of Lifetime Felon Disenfranchisement (11/14/2005)
MIAMI -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida today expressed disappointment over the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision not to review a state law that bars citizens with felony convictions from voting, even after they have completed their term of prison, probation and parole.

ACLU Calls on Congress to Correct Provision in Voting Rights Act: Court Decision on Redistricting Undermines Intent of Historic Civil Rights Law (11/09/2005)
WASHINGTON -The American Civil Liberties Union today urged lawmakers to restore a section of the Voting Rights Act that protects the right of Americans to elect candidates of their choice. Section 5 of the act prevents voting discrimination by requiring new voting laws and practices to be evaluated and precleared before they can take effect. A Supreme Court ruling in 2003, though, eroded that safeguard. The ACLU testified today before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution that Section 5, which is undergoing Congressional review, must be restored to its intended meaning and reauthorized along with several other provisions that are set to expire in 2007.

ACLU Warns Virginia Election Officials Not to Reject Voters Unnecessarily (11/04/2005)
RICHMOND, VA -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia today sent letters to every voter registrar in Virginia asking for their help in protecting the right to vote on Election Day. The letter addressed reports of voters being rejected at the polls because they were not carrying identification as well as a requirement in some counties that voters remove buttons or clothing containing political messages before being allowed to vote.

6,000 Coloradoans Illegally Excluded from Voting, Says ACLU (11/03/2005)
DENVER -- While thousands of Colorado citizens cast their ballots on November 1, more than 6,000 Coloradoans were illegally excluded from the polls by a state statute enacted in the early 1990s, according to Mark Silverstein, Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado.

ACLU Challenges Albuquerque Voter ID Law (11/02/2005)
ALBUQUERQUE --The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico filed a lawsuit today asking a federal court to declare Albuquerque's recently passed Voter ID Amendment "unconstitutional, illegal, null and void."