Minority Report

A few months ago someone told me that blacks could lose their right to vote. At first I didn't believe them until I researched it. In 1965 the 15th Amendment guaranteed us the right to vote, but it has been manipulated in subsections/acts. Surprise, surprise; nothing for minorities is ever so cut-and-dry, or should I insert the pun: “Nothing is ever so black and white.”

In section 5 of the 15th amendment there is something called the "Pre-clearance Act," which basically states that all voting districts have to be cleared by the Attorney General. The "Pre-clearance Act" is not a permanent addition to the Amendment, but it needs to be. In 1982 Ronald Regan gave it a 25 year extension. Now if we sit back and do the math, we have until 2007. We need to write our congressman and bring this issue into the open. This just doesn't affect blacks but all other minorities and poor communities. Look up the 15th Amendment on the internet and find information on this topic. I will put what I’ve found so far below. This issue is still a little sketchy to me, so I will continue to research this topic further to see how alarmed I need to be. We all need to stay informed, no matter what!

The 1982 Amendments
Congress decided in 1982 that Section 5 should be renewed for twenty-five years. Congress also adopted a new standard, which went into effect in 1985, providing how jurisdictions could terminate (or "bail out" from) coverage under the special provisions of Section 4. Furthermore, after extensive hearings, Congress decided that Section 2 should be amended to prohibit vote dilution, according to essentially the same objective factors employed in White v. Register, but without a requirement of proof of discriminatory purpose.

VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965
Section 2:
A nationwide provision that prohibits the use of voting laws, practices or procedures that discriminate in either purpose or effect on the basis of race, color, or membership in a minority language group. All types of voting practices and procedures are covered by Section 2, including those relating to registration, voting, candidacy qualification, and types of election systems.

Section 4:
This portion sets forth the formula under which a political jurisdiction is "covered" by and, therefore, subject to the pre-clearance provisions of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.

Section 4 has various dates that trigger coverage. For example: if a jurisdiction used a "test or device" such as a literacy test as of November 1, 1964 and less than 50% of the age-eligible citizens were registered or voted in 1964, it became a covered jurisdiction. Section 4 further notes that if the jurisdiction provided English-Only voter registration/election materials, contained a registered voting age citizenry (or citizens actually voting) of less than 50%, and contained a single language minority group of greater than 5% of its citizens.

Covered jurisdictions include the entire States of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia and counties and towns in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, South Dakota and Wyoming.

Section 5 was designed to prevent states and other government entities with a history of voting discrimination from continuing to devise new ways to discriminate after the abolishment of prior discriminatory practices. Section 5 requires certain covered jurisdictions to submit any proposed voting changes in their election law or practices, prior to implementation, for federal approval by either the Attorney General of the United States or the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia. Covered jurisdictions must demonstrate that the proposed voting changes do not have the purpose or the effect of discriminating against protected racial or language minorities. This process is referred to as the pre-clearance process.

Minority Language Groups: The minority language groups covered by the Voting Rights Act are Native Americans, Asian Americans, Alaska Natives, and persons of Spanish heritage.

Minority Language Provisions: The Voting Rights Act was amended in 1975 and 1992 to include political jurisdictions with language minority groups and requires such jurisdictions to furnish bi-lingual assistance to language minority citizens at all stages of the voting process and in all elections.