Voting Rights Act Of 1965

Most change can be caused by people or something with significant value. Occasionally people forget that change can also be caused by pieces of paper. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a law passed that primarily gave African Americans the right to vote without having to take any sort of literacy tests. African Americans were widely ignored in voting rights because they were forced to take literacy tests to be eligible to vote. Having this event in our nation’s civil rights movement was a landmark that allowed the other half of our nation’s voice to be heard. “The Voting Rights Act itself has been called the single most effective piece of civil rights legislation ever passed by Congress.”(Laney 65)

Despite what many might think, the voting rights act of 1965 is well known across hundreds of nations all over the world. The voting rights act of 1965 has been around for several centuries and has a very important meaning in the lives of many. This act was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on August 6, 1965. He aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote under the 15th amendment to the Constitution of the United States. It is a landmark piece of federal legislation that prohibits this racial discrimination. This document is just as big and important as the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. It would be safe to assume that voting rights act of 1965 is going to be around for a long time and will have an enormous impact on the lives of many people in times to come. The voting acts of 1965 created positive and negative changes for America. But, why was this law created, when was it put into effect, and what effect did it have on the U.S.?

Voting has not always been as easy as it is today. It is interesting to examine how far America has progressed in its process of allowing different types of people to be able to vote. Voting was once aimed at a particular group of people, which were white males that owned their own property. Today, most people over the age of eighteen can vote, except for the mentally incompetent or people who have been convicted of major felonies in some states. The decline of voter participation has always been a debate in the public arena. According to McDonald and Popkin, it is “the most important, most familiar, most analyzed, and most conjectured trend in recent American political history (2001, 963)” The question is, how important is voter

The term gerrymandering refers to the practice of altering voting districts in order to achieve electoral results favorable to one person or party, usually the incumbent politician or party creating the new voting regions.1 This term, dating back to 1812, is an established method for incumbent politicians to improve their heresthetical “defense,” by manipulating the dimensions of the political landscape.2 This tactic is extremely common in the United States and a prime example of politicians acting as manipulators. This essay will argue that politicians are manipulators, as evidenced by the gerrymandering of voting districts to improve odds of maintaining power, and opposition attempts to counteract this electoral

Because the Supreme Court gave no definition of what compact means, the majority party continues to draw districts in crazy shapes to insure victory for one side. In some cases, minority neighborhoods miles apart get connected by a street running in between them that makes them eligible to become a single district (Wilson 241-242). The first case of gerrymandering occurred in Massachusetts in 1812. Governor Eldridge Gerry redistricted his state in a way that gave his party an unfair advantage. When pictures of one of the crazy districts got out, a political cartoonist thought the picture looked like a salamander and the name gerrymandering stuck (Foglia). Three different types of gerrymandering occur today. The first type, called “excess vote,” occurs when the controlling party stacks all of its opponent’s voters into a few districts. The second type, called “wasted vote,” occurs often when the majority party places the opposing parties strongholds throughout their own district to dilute the opposing parties strength. The final type, know as “stacked voting,” occurs when a the majority party puts the voters that favor them into districts that will insure their victory (Foglia). One of the professors at the Lott Institute at the University of Mississippi, Dr. Winburn said, “Redistricting probably has more to do with the outcome of elections than any traditional issue, and maybe even the economy”(Winburn).

In contrast Midwestern states, as well as New Hampshire and Rhode Island are more likely to have white populations at or above the national average of 79% as well as higher GDP per state than their Southern counterparts as seen in Appendixes 4 and 5. Unlike Southern states, Midwestern states, plus New Hampshire and Rhode Island, have less need to keep minority and poorer populations, who are less likely to have a form of voter Id, from the voting booth because they do not hold as much sway in elections as they do in the south. In addition, a few of these states are Democratic strongholds negating any need to disenfranchise these populations as they make up the majority of the Democratic voting base. While political culture and region, race, and poverty level appear to be strong indicators of voter ID laws in the south, the Midwest alongside New

The voting acts right was signed and passed by our former United States President, Lyndon Johnson on August 6, 1965. The purpose of the act was to dispose of the discrimination that was being released mostly in the southern states after the civil war. The congress sought to ensure that all United States citizens were assured that the fourteenth and fifteenth amendment were actually being used. There are two sections in the act that I am going to describe briefly. They are the fifth and fourth section of the act that have the purpose of keeping all civil rights guaranteed to all citizens.

What is The Voting Rights Act of 1966? The voting rights act is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the law on august 6, 1965. This law was designed to enforce the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments, the act secure voting rights for ethic groups mostly in the south. The U.S Department of Justice expresses that this Act is the most effective piece of federal civil rights legislation ever enacted in the country. The Act contains various provisions that control election administration. The Act’s “general provision” provides nationwide protection on voting rights. Section 2 is a general Provision that forbids each state and local government

The Voting Rights Act 42 U.S.C. §§ 1973 et seq., decision is important regarding the laws governing voting rights and their relationship to minority voters. Its implication and effects however does not end within the legal realms and dimensions but continues through to society, culture, and human rights. The Voting Rights Act initially established in 1965 under Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration protected “racial minorities” from biased voting practices. It was a huge stride in the civil rights movement and a victory over harmful, archaic, and biased voting practices and traditions.

Why are voting rights important? The voting rights act of 1965 was made so that there was no racial discrimination in voting. In other words, race, color, religion, or sex didn’t matter in the process of voting. This piece was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the American Civil Rights Movement on August 6, 1965. In 2013, the supreme court issued support in Shelby County v. Holder. This made it easier for minorities to be discriminated against. Republicans in Congress, as well as in states across the country, have gone out of their way to make it more difficult for minorities, the elderly, and young people to

The U.S Constitution gives the states considerable latitude in the way of conducting elections. The American citizens have many opportunities to vote. However, a turnout in American elections has dramatically decreased over the past several decades. In order to address this issue, majority of states have allowed absentee voting reforms. These convenient reforms are thought to increase the voter turnout in the elections, as well as to reduce administrative costs.

Currently, thirty-four states require some form of identification and thirty-two of those are currently in effect. North Carolina, Mississippi, and Minnesota had voter ID laws rejected or put on hold in 2016 on the grounds that the laws were discriminatory and would disenfranchise minorities (Legislatures). North Carolina’s statute was struck down specifically because of the ‘intentional’ targeting of African American voters. The law was focusing on almost nonexistent cases of in person voter fraud, and ignoring the absentee ballot, which is most used by white Americans and where most voter fraud has occurred (Holstege). North Carolina’s 2013 voter ID legislation was often subject to lawsuits in federal and state courts because of discrimination against minority voters (Douglas).The Federal Court system has found an abundance of things wrong with the legislature that is being pushed for the sake of voter fraud prevention, but as states amass these requirements to vote, they disenfranchise voters who do not have access to all the necessary parts, and most likely cannot get access to these materials. Texas legislation was significantly weakened by the fifth Circuit Court of Appeals because it targeted minority voters, citing that Black Americans were 1.79 times more likely to lack proper ID and Latino Americans were 2.42 times more likely to lack proper ID than White Americans (Holstege). A University of Massachusetts study saw that in states where minority and lower income voting rises, the state was more likely to push for voter ID legislation (Weiser). These laws affect minority groups tremendously and would slash representation for these groups to minuscule

As of February 2016, 33 states enforced voter identification requirements. The voter identification law is a law that requires specifics identification in order to avoid fraud during the election. Under the Voting Rights Act, states and localities with a history of racial discrimination needed to get permission from the federal government to enact any changes to their voting laws, in a process called “preclearance.”

96-year-old Dorothy Cooper never missed voting in an election for seventy years. The 2011 election marked the first year that she was completely unable to cast a ballot. Her failure to vote was not due to an oversight on her part; rather, it resulted from Tennessee’s new strict photo ID law that required voters to show a valid, current photo ID before casting a ballot in person (Brazile, 2011). Dorothy Cooper could not obtain a new photo ID, though she came well-in advance with her rent receipt, a copy of her lease, voter registration card, and birth certificate, simply because the name on her birth certificate differed from her current married name and she did not have a marriage license. Dorothy did not have a gun license because she did

The Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s influenced the federal government to introduce new laws to better the country for Blacks and other minorities. The two major acts that passed were the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Nationality Amendments Act of 1965. President John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson helped ignite the fire for change in the United States (Shaw et. al. 2015: 207). My thesis is that the passings of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Nationality Amendments Act of 1965 successfully did overcome big problems with discrimination, but there is space to grow since some of the key provisions needed to be revise.