UNITED NATIONS - / www.MaximsNews.com/ - 5 May 2006 - The National Urban League has made renewing and strengthening the Voting Rights Act (VRA) a top priority.

Our affiliates from across the country brought the power of the Urban League Movement to Capitol Hill, where action on the VRA has been a key focus of our annual Legislative Policy Conference during the last two years and renewal was a top recommendation of our annual scholarly volume, The State of Black America 2005.  

In addition to testifying before Congress, I have repeatedly called for swift Congressional action on the VRA in personal meetings with Members of Congress, in speeches, television appearances and in this column.     

Our efforts bore fruit this week with the introduction of the “Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006.”  

It was sponsored by a bipartisan group of -- House Members and Senators, led by Reps. John Conyers and Mel Watt, Senator Barack Obama, the Speaker of the House, the Senate Majority and Minority Leaders and the Chairmen of both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, this important and historic bipartisan legislation shows us what can be done when political leaders work together for the common good.   

The Voting Rights Act, without question, is our nation’s most successful civil rights law. 

Enacted in 1965 in direct response to persistent and purposeful discrimination through literacy tests, poll taxes, intimidation, threats, and violence, the VRA has enfranchised millions of African American citizens by eliminating discriminatory practices and removing other barriers to their political participation.  

In the process, the VRA has made the promise of democracy a reality for all Americans.  

Three key provisions of the VRA will expire next year, unless they are renewed: Section 5 prevents voting practices with a discriminatory purpose or effect from being implemented.  

Section 203 requires certain jurisdictions to provide language assistance to voters in areas with high concentrations of citizens who are limited-English proficient and illiterate. 

Sections 6-9 authorize the federal government to use observers in elections to monitor VRA compliance.  

The Congressional hearings in which I testified highlighted an important reality: while progress has been made under the VRA, much work remains to be done.  

The hearings revealed that significant discrimination in voting is still pervasive in jurisdictions covered by the expiring provisions of the Act.  

In fact, the majority of all the Department of Justice’s objections to discriminatory voting practices and procedures have occurred since 1982, when Section 5 was last reauthorized.  

Evidence of the hundreds of Section 5 objections and numerous successful voting cases that have been brought during that period provide further documentation of the persistence of discrimination in jurisdictions covered by the expiring provisions. 

Additionally, the record illustrates that thousands of United States citizens continue to face discrimination and need VRA mandated language assistance to ensure that they can cast an effective ballot.   

The “Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006” addresses this compelling record by renewing the VRA’s temporary provisions for 25 years.  

The bill reauthorizes and restores Section 5 to the original congressional intent that has been undermined by the Supreme Court in Reno v. Bossier Parish II and Georgia v. Ashcroft.  

The Bossier fix prohibits implementation of any voting change motivated by a discriminatory purpose.  

The Georgia fix clarifies that Section 5 is intended to protect the ability of minority citizens to elect their candidates of choice.  

Section 203 is being renewed to continue to provide language minority citizens with equal access to voting without language barriers, using coverage determinations based on the American Community Survey Census data.  

The bill also keeps the federal observer provisions in place and authorizes recovery of expert witness fees in lawsuits brought to enforce the VRA.  

Ensuring that the Voting Rights Act continues to safeguard the voting rights of Americans has become ever more important given the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people of color from their communities in Louisiana , Mississippi , and Alabama as a result of Hurricane Katrina. 

These evacuees must continue to have full voting rights in their home voting districts so that they can have a voice in the rebuilding of their communities – and so that democracy in all its dimensions continues to be a part of the reconstruction of the South and of America itself.  

Expanding the opportunity to vote in America goes far beyond ensuring that minority voters have a voice or that African American politicians get elected. 

By opening up the political process, the Voting Rights Act has made available a broader pool of political talent, thereby greatly improving the quality of representation for all voters. 

The VRA has been instrumental in moving America closer to its true promise and, thus, has significantly benefited every single American, regardless of their race, economic status, national origin or political party.  

I urge every member of the House and Senate to immediately pass the “Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006.”    

Strengthen and renew the Voting Rights Act now!!!

          MarcMorial@MaximsNews.com