1965 Voting Rights Law Set to Expire

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Mar 31, 5:20 AM EST
1965 Voting Rights Law Set to Expire

By MARCUS FRANKLIN
Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- On what would become known as "Bloody Sunday," voting rights marchers in March 1965 reached the highest point on the Edmund Pettus Bridge near Selma, Ala., and saw a blue sea of uniforms awaiting them at the end of the bridge.

Television would show images of Alabama state troopers armed with guns, night sticks, bull whips and tear gas severely beating marchers. Days later, President Lyndon Johnson promised to bring Congress an effective voting rights bill, and that August he signed into law the Voting Rights Act of 1965, considered one of the most significant laws in the nation's history.

Now, more than four decades later, sections of the act are set to expire. The looming expiration date - Aug. 6, 2007 - has ignited debate over the provisions' effectiveness and relevance, and over whether they should be extended...

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"It's a myth that we stand to lose the right to vote, but we do stand to lose critical protections that have allowed us to participate fully in the political process," said Debo Adegbile, associate director of litigation at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. "We've seen consistently, even with the provisions in place, continuing efforts to weaken minority voices in the electoral process."

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One that includes how votes are to be cast, and counted, how campaigns are to be financed (including free air time on the public's airwaves) and how long the campaign season can run, so that it isn't 24/7/365. Criminal penalties for intimidation whether official or private, uniform registration, a 24 hour holiday for purpose of voting, universal absentee mailing ballot option, and clear and fair rules on re-enfranchising felons who have paid their restitution.

And after that, some rules on the Legislature: minimum number of days in session, no corporate lobbying, some form of recall and petition process, to start.

Some rules on the courts, and a lot on the Executive Branch.

Our 200-year-old experiment needs a new improved design, one not done by fascists.

:)

going on today with voters rights.

"It's a myth that we stand to lose the right to vote, but we do stand to lose critical protections that have allowed us to participate fully in the political process,"

Seems that a lot of folks were disenfranchised in Florida in 2000 - with no recourse to be able to have their vote count. Seems that in either 2002 or 2004 there were flyers sent out targetting African Americans in Ohio with misinformation meant to prevent folks from voting (from giving the wrong date for the primary vote, and other shennanigans). And the outgrage in the country - to try to put a halt to such efforts, or to prevent them from growing? Almost nil.

around the world to worry about our voting rights here in the USA.

I mean especially for federal offices. Shouldn't the Federal government decide who votes for President? That in itself would have prevented Bush from stealing the 2000 election.