Ezekiel Edwards

Don’t Let The Sun Set On Our Voting Rights

"The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice..."

Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President of the United States, at the signing of the Voting Rights Act on August 6, 1965

In 1870, the U.S. Congress ratified the 15th Amendment, guaranteeing the right to vote regardless of race. Although it looked good on paper, for decades local and state governments routinely frustrated the Amendment's purpose by a myriad of means, including literacy tests, poll taxes, disenfranchisement of former prisoners, intimidation and violence. In 1965, in response to the systematic mockery made of the 15th Amendment (particularly by Southern states), Congress passed the Voting Rights Act (VRA), aimed at protecting and enforcing the guarantees of the 15th Amendment by prohibiting discrimination against minority voters and providing language assistance to minority language voters.

The VRA has been crucial in strengthening our democracy by serving as a vehicle for minority voters to challenge a plethora of more contemporary discriminatory practices, including restrictive voter registration requirements, districting plans that dilute minority voting strength, and the placement of polling places at sites inaccessible to minority voters. However, the VRA contains certain "sunset" provisions --- provisions that will be repealed on a specific date unless the government renews them. In 2007, three important provisions of the VRA are set to expire if Congress does not reauthorize them:

(1) Sections 4 and 5, which require jurisdictions with histories of excluding and disenfranchising voters to prove to the federal government that any proposed changes to their voting laws or procedures will not have an adverse effect on minority voters. Since 1965, the Justice Department has objected to more than 1,000 proposed alterations made by such jurisdictions.
(2) Sections 203 and 4(f)(4), which require certain states and counties with significant language minority populations (Spanish-speaking, American Indian, Asian American, and native Alaskans) to provide language assistance for voters.
(3) Sections 6-9, which permit the deployment of poll observers and federal experts to jurisdictions with a long track record of voter exclusion.

Numerous organizations, including the Bronx Defenders (where I work), support congressional reauthorization of these provisions. Of particular magnitude for communities like the Bronx is the renewal of Section 203 regarding language assistance for minority language voters. According to the 2000 Census, almost 50% of Bronx residents are Latino (not including those Bronx Latinos temporarily incarcerated in prisons upstate, counted by the Census as upstate residents), while Spanish is spoken in 44% of Bronx homes. If Congress chose not to renew Section 203, the result could be English-only voter registrations, voting materials, and ballots in heavily Spanish-speaking enclaves, a result potentially devastating to the political voice and strength of Latino communities in the Bronx and nationwide. Maggie Williams, founder and Project Director of The Bronx Defenders' Voter Enfranchisement Project, explains that "not only are our Spanish-speaking clients entitled to election material and ballots in Spanish, but it is crucial to their civic participation."

Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that Congress will renew the VRA's sunset provisions, particularly in light of vocal opposition from members of Congress itself. House of Representatives member Steve King from Iowa sent a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner signed by 55 other House Republicans opposing renewal of Sections 203 and 4(f)4 because they "encourage linguistic division of our nation", "contradict the requirement that immigrants need to demonstrate the ability to read and understand English in order to become naturalized citizens", "increase the risk of election errors and fraud", "are a waste of taxpayer funds", and are unnecessary since federal law protects the rights of all citizens to bring an interpreter with them into the voting booth.

The VRA, as well as other congressional acts and constitutional amendments before it, recognized that citizens in a diverse country under a democratic system of government should never be denied the right to vote because of their race, gender, nationality, or lack of proficiency in English. We should not risk returning to a not-so-distant time when thousands of American citizens faced such voting barriers. Just think, when Woodrow Wilson was elected in 1916, he did not receive a single vote from a woman, a Native American, a Chinese American, or a Japanese American, not because of his political platform, but because none of the aforementioned groups were allowed to vote. Meanwhile, there existed a vast number of uncast African-American votes throughout much of the 20th century as a result of intimidation, threats, lynchings, and other obstructions that effectively destroyed their right to vote.

The voting rights of minorities have consistently come under attack, both historically and today, from local politicians up to the Supreme Court; it is imperative that Congress protects aggressively such essential rights by renewing the "sunset" provisions. As Maggie Williams states, "people need to be represented at the bargaining table; Sections 5 and 203 of the VRA help to ensure that communities of color will have that representation."

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Posted at 6:28 AM, Mar 23, 2006 in Civil Rights | Democracy | Voting Rights
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