Voting Rights Act action-

[Guest guest]

A last minute campaign in congress is threatening the renewal of the

Voting Rights Act, which is widely recognized as the most successful

law in our nation's history, creating fairness and equality for all

Americans. Yet all the progress made over the last 40 years will be

in jeopardy if the law is allowed to expire.

 

Please ask your congressperson to vote for renewal of the Voting

Rights Act without any weakening Amendments. Then forward this email

to your friends and family and ask them to do the same.

 

To take action, below or paste it in your browser:

 

http://pirg.org/alerts/route.asp?id=1634 & id4=ES

 

 

Background:

 

The Voting Rights Act has, for more than 40 years, been the driving

force behind expanding access to voting for all Americans. However,

several key provisions requiring federal oversight for jurisdictions

with a history of discrimination are set to expire in 2007. To ensure

fairness and equality in our elections, H.R. 9 must be passed without

weakening amendments.

 

One provision up for renewal requires certain state and local

governments to " preclear " proposed changes in voting or election

procedures. Preclearance ensures sound voting practices in places

with a pervasive history of discriminating against minority voters.

There are sufficient safeguards and criteria written into the law for

jurisdictions who believe they should be released from preclearance

requirements. Amendments such as ones to nationalize preclearance

requirements should be rejected as they raise significant

constitutional questions, are unnecessary and would be impossibly

difficult and costly to implement.

 

Another provision up for renewal mandates that certain jurisdictions

have bilingual voting materials. Contrary to what some have argued,

the vast majority of those who have benefited from this provision are

individuals born in the United States and, more to the point, they

are all citizens. The strength of our democracy today lies in our

ability, throughout our nation's history, to further extend voting

rights and encourage participation of all citizens. We must not

reverse history by closing a once opened door to those who have a

legitimate right to full participation as well as a legitimate stake

in the future of our nation..

 

An unfortunate reality is that discrimination against minorities

continues to be problematic in many jurisdictions. In the absence of

legal protections, these citizens will again be denied the

opportunity to meaningfully take part in our democracy. English-only

ballots, costly photo identification provisions, partisan and racial

gerrymanders and other backdoor attempts to deny voters' access to

the ballot undermine the integrity of our elections and run counter

to our national values.

 

H.R. 9, The Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King

Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006, will

likely be brought to the House floor next week.

 

Please ask your congressperson to vote for renewal of the Voting

Rights Act without any weakening Amendments. Then forward this email

to your friends and family and ask them to do the same.

 

To take action, below or paste into your web browser:

 

http://pirg.org/alerts/route.asp?id=1634 & id4=ES

 

" To be nobody-but-myself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to

make me everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being

can fight, and never stop fighting. " -e.e. cummings-