The Voting Rights Act in the United States was signed by then-President London B. Johnson on August 6, 1965. Although 56 years have passed since the law was enacted, it is still a major issue in American politics.
The law is considered one of the most successful civil rights legislations passed by the US Congress. Within months of the law's passage, millions of disenfranchised black Americans registered to vote.
For some political analysts, the legislation was such a dramatic change in American history that it marked the "second reconstruction" for the country after the "reconstruction era" that began after the end of the American Civil War from 1861 to 1865. Nine.
More than half a century has passed since the law was passed. But voting rights advocates say this historic legislation still faces serious threats.
According to experts, the law is threatened by laws passed in various US states that restrict the right to vote.
This legislation on voting rights in the United States has gone through several gradual stages, from the most important development in history to the most important one in recent politics.
When not everyone had the right to vote, when the US Constitution was passed in 1788, not all citizens had the right to vote. However, after the end of the Civil War, the Fifteenth Amendment was passed in 1870, giving all male citizens the right to vote, without distinction of "race, color, or previous state of slavery." But women were still deprived of this right. Women gained the right to vote in 1919.
This historic development in the form of the Fifteenth Amendment proved to be temporary in the sense that educational qualifications and other barriers were erected in the southern states of the United States to deprive blacks of the right to vote. These measures gave rise to the civil rights movement in the United States.
Beyond the Selma Bridge. ۔ The turning point in the movement came on March 7, 1965, when 600 activists marching peacefully toward the Alabama capital, Montgomery, arrived at a Selma bridge and were attacked by police.
Young John Lewis was leading the marchers. He had a fractured skull. He was among 58 people injured in the incident.
Lewis later became one of the most prominent civil rights voices in the United States and was elected a member of Congress.
Scenes of the "Bloody Sunday" event were televised across the United States and are known as "Bloody Sunday". Following the scenes aired on the day, voices were raised nationwide against the incident, which also increased support for new legislation on voting rights.
American politics.
In an interview with VOA in 2015, John Lewis said, "The suffering of many people has paid off. The blood we have shed has not been in vain.
According to Mark Morrell, former mayor of 52.6MB New Orleans and head of the National Urban League, a civil liberties organization Unbridled
Just hours after the ruling, the state of Texas announced that it would immediately impose strict identification requirements on voters. This condition was previously blocked under the Voting Rights Act. After Texas, other states began to follow suit.
But later that year, the Supreme Court upheld two Arizona voting lawsuits challenged under section two.
One of the rules that the Supreme Court upheld was the exclusion of a registered vote in one percent (the basic unit of constituency delimitation in the United States) from being counted if it was added to another present. According to the second regulation, it is a crime to get a ballot for someone other than a family member or a helper.
Democrats say both laws are inappropriately violating Section 2 and affect minority voters.
However, six conservative Supreme Court judges did not accept the argument that the laws would increase the pressure on voters.
Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online.
The Justice Department recently challenged Georgia's electoral law under Section Two.
Damon Hewitt, executive director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights under Law, said: "It seems that the court is telling us without saying anything that it does not believe that racial discrimination is as much a problem as it was in the past. Therefore, the court does not believe that such laws are still needed.
Judgments and Concerns There are fears in voting rights circles that the Supreme Court, under the influence of conservatives, is gradually undermining the legal protections provided in the law, signed by Democrat President London Johnson.
According to Beat Rick, a former member of the US House of Representatives and a Democrat from Texas, "we are again confronted with the same forces and multiple electoral systems that led President Johnson and members of Congress to the 1965 Voting Rights Act." Had to be approved. "
Republican leaders and activists deny the allegations. He believes that his proposed changes to the voting rules will increase transparency in the electoral process and prevent possible irregularities.
In late March, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said Georgia would take another step toward making its elections more secure, accessible and transparent.
American politics.
For hundreds of years, Republican lawmakers have introduced about 400 electoral reform bills in 49 states.
According to the left-leaning Brennan Center for Justice, the bills would make voting more difficult for many Americans.
Of these 400 bills, 30 have become laws. That is more than the number of laws passed in 2011 when Republicans launched a similarly large-scale legislative campaign.
The campaign to amend the election law, which critics see as an attempt to limit the voting potential of millions of Americans, especially black Americans and minority voters, has gained momentum since former President Donald Trump's baseless claims. According to him, he could not be re-elected in November 2020 due to electoral fraud.
Democrats see many legal risks to voter rights.
Speaking in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in mid-July, President Biden called Republican legislative efforts an attack on post-struggle voting rights.
President Biden, referring to the term "Jim Crow" used in the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries for racial discrimination laws and activities, said that in the 21st century, Jim Crow's attack is real.
The term is also being used in reference to recent attempts to deprive voters of their rights. "This challenge is very serious and we will deal with it vigorously," he said.
Republican activists, who are pushing for legislation on voting, reject the notion that the laws are intended to restrict voting rights.
On the contrary, he says strict conditions for voter identification, ban on absentee voting, removal of voter registration lists and other changes will prevent election irregularities and public confidence in the electoral process. Will grow
Texas effort focuses on Republican efforts to tighten Texas voting laws, where they plan to pass legislation.
President Biden spoke in Philadelphia this month about voting rights. Efforts are under way in Texas, with 50 Democratic lawmakers leaving their state to move to Washington, D.C. So that the quorum required for a vote on a new law is not met and Governor Greg Abbott and the Republican majority cannot pass the law.
After President Biden criticized Texas voting rules, Governor Abbott said in a tweet that Texas was making voting easier and harder to rig.
What will happen in the Congress? In view of the decisions of the Supreme Court, the Democrats have introduced two laws in the Congress to protect the right to vote. They are proposing that the June Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act once again require federal approval for voting rules in states before they are changed.
American politics.
The second proposed legislation, entitled "For the People's Act," calls for greater rights.
The law proposes measures for automatic voter registration, restoration of the right to vote after a criminal offense has been completed, and the right to vote early and in absentia.
The public is strongly opposed to these proposed laws and because of them these proposals could not be approved this year. Until President Biden backs the end of the long-running debate in the Senate on the proposed bills, which in the US legislative tradition is called a 'flabster', Democrats in the Senate will get the required 60 votes to legislate. Will not be able to
Voting rights activists, on the other hand, are hopeful that despite all obstacles, voters will turn out in large numbers in the 2022 midterm elections in the United States, as they did in 2020.
This article is based on an article by VOA's Reporter for the Department of Justice and the FBI's Masoud Freer.
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