Leave the Voting Rights Act intact
By Christina Nuckols
For many Americans, the prospect of tampering with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is unthinkable.
“I reflect back on what it took to get that done,” said Roanoke Councilman Sherman Lea. “It’s very sacred.”
But legal challenges seeking to undermine a key provision of the law may reach the U.S. Supreme Court. Justices were scheduled to meet Friday and discuss whether they will hear the case. That decision was still up in the air as I wrote this column.
The landmark civil rights legislation requires state and local governments with a history of racial discrimination to obtain permission from the U.S. Department of Justice or a federal court before making changes to voting rules. Virginia is one of nine states covered by the law because of its past use of literacy tests and other tactics to suppress voter turnout.
Nuckols is editorial page editor of The Roanoke Times.
November 4, 2012 - 7:54 AM
We talk real funny down here….
we drink too much, we laugh too loud…
we’re too dumb to make it no northern town…
we are keeping……
Randy Newman, Rednecks, Good Old Boys
I agree. It is symbolic, it is sacred and it remains an important guarantee. Even now.
The OP states “I hope the Supreme Court justices leave the Voting Rights Act intact, allowing each community to have its own discussion about the need for oversight.”
Please review this article to see if you think this is what she means allowing the community to oversee the election rules and oversight of elections:
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2012/11/03/breaking_naacp_takes_over_polling_station_advocates_for_president_obama_at_houston_polling_location
How long do you think that a Romney group of supporters would have lasted doing the same thing?
#2 Mrs. Saunders, what does it symbolize?
As the country moves well into the 21st century, the only states where the Voting Rights Act really applies is in the states of the old Confederacy which is discriminatory in itself.
Virginia has elected a black governor and the country has elected a black president. There are plenty of black judges and sufficient local, state, and federal laws protecting minorities from discrimination.
The black activists refuse to give up their “victim status” because now it’s all about power and it has nothing to do with civil rights. The black activists will fight to preserve their “victim status” well into the next century because it gives them power. And the Dems who depend so heavily on the black vote will do nothing to change the status quo.
It’s time for the SCOTUS to eliminate all forms of discrimination, which includes reverse discrimination.
As if!
#5 And no doubt John R thinks discrimination, except reverse discrimination, of course, has vanished.