The conference comes a day after a federal court invalidated Texas’s voter ID law.
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Read the full text of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 here.
Fifty years ago, our nation took an enormous leap for equality with the passage of the Voting Rights Act. Spanish-speakers, Native Americans, Native Alaskans and Asian Americans are among the groups who did not benefit from the Voting Rights Act until Gerald Ford signed the extension in 1975.
The Attorney General’s Civil Rights Bureau has made enforcement of the Voting Rights Act and expansion of voting rights a key priority.
In 2013, the Supreme Court struck down Section 4, which had required Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia to seek federal approval before imposing changes to voter laws. During his address, Obama praised the leaders and activists of the Civil Rights Era who pushed President Lyndon B. Johnson to sign the VRA into law in 1965, marking the end of discriminatory practices that strategically prevented people of color from voting. Lynch said she was pleased that the Fifth District Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday that Texas’ voter ID law was discriminatory in effect.
At the same time, some state legislatures have implemented policies and procedures that may on the surface seem neutral – such as restrictions on early voting and certain requirements for photo identification – but are actually discouraging people from voting, Obama said. During the August congressional recess, voters should be loud and clear that the right to vote is fundamental to our democracy.
And back in Washington, Congressman John Lewis, who marched in Selma to Montgomery 50 years ago, has been urging his Republican counterparts to bring to the floor a bill that would restore the Voting Rights Act.
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According to the Wagram Democrat, subtle restrictions that have emerged in recent years – ID laws and limits on registration drives – are again putting voting rights in jeopardy. “We feel like its divisive issue that needs to be settled if Mississippi is going to move forward in a progressive manner”, said Clark. It calls for states to provide equal access to voting for all citizens.
