Why We Still Need the Voting Rights Act

By Dr. Henry Flores, NewsTaco

On February 27^th the Supreme Court of the United States will hear arguments in a lawsuit originating in Shelby County, Alabama as to why Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) is constitutional.  The County government has brought the suit alleging that Congress reapproved Section 5 in 2006 based on outdated data from 1965.  The Alabama County says that times have changed and those racial conditions no longer exist.  In fact, contends Shelby County, the political, social and economic environment of their county has changed dramatically since 1965 and Section 5 violates the state’s ability to enforce the 15^th Amendment to the Constitution thus also violating the 4^th and 10^th Amendments.  Essentially, this translates (and they do need translating because this is all legal speak) into the allegation that the federal government is violating the state’s sovereignty thus violating the basic principles of federalism.

¡Por favor! Things have changed in the jurisdictions covered by Section 5?  ¡No me digas!  Or as the British would say WHOOOOAT?

There may not be any Mexican schools or Hombres Aqui restrooms anymore (I wonder what the mujeres used for facilities?).  There may even be bilingual education and mariachi music education classes in some schools but racism and racial intentions in the public policy realm are still around.  All you have to do is peruse the emails going back and forth between politicos during the Texas redistricting trials, look at the racist Tea Party rallies on the state capitol grounds in Austin, observe the racist diatribes unleashed by some Texas state senators on Spanish Speaking citizens during committee hearings and you will see that racism is alive and well in Texas in the 21^st Century.

Section 5 of the VRA was developed, passed by Congress in 1965 and reauthorized twice the last time in 2006 to protect the sanctity of the vote in jurisdictions that had a history of racial discrimination in the public policy arena.  Racism was evident in Texas and in many other states in 1965 and it is alive still in the same places.  The problem was that we passed Section 5 to cover voting rights in the traditionally southern states, the states of the old confederacy, but forgot to include the remainder of the nation.

¿Que dices?

Yes, I’m saying that the Supreme Court needs to emphatically say that Section 5 of the VRA is still required and that maybe Congress needs to look at the law again and make it applicable to the entire United States of America and its territories.

The reason I make this reasonable claim is because although the voting rights of African and Asian Americans, Native Americans and Latinos require more protection the rest of the country needs protection as well given the nature of the “hanky-panky,” “travesuras” politicos play during and around elections in this country.  We always like to point the finger at third world countries for their corrupt election systems but, frankly, we don’t take a back seat to any of them.

Here are brief samples of the sorts of mischievous and illegal activities that abounded during the last presidential elections.

There was the case of the Oregon election worker in Clackmas County, a registered Republican, who “allegedly” altered multiple straight party tickets to benefit Republican candidates.

Or, how about the Ohio woman who was fired from her job because she voted for President Obama.  Her employer had threatened to fire employees if the president won reelection.

Or, the cases of electronic voting machine glitches in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Or, all those counties in Florida during the 2000 presidential elections that disenfranchised tens of thousands of voters because of voter intimidation, lack of computing technologies, lack of phone lines.

Or, the “robo-calls” in Arizona that were telling voters, mostly minority, of the wrong day for the elections.

Or, how about all those cases of long lines in Virginia.

Or, the cutting back of early voting days in Wisconsin.

Or, the voters who were asked in Texas for state-issued voter ID cards when no law existed.

Or, the African American voters in a particular precinct in Texas during the 2004 general election who were told by an election judge that their voting rights had been cancelled by Congress.

And some are saying that we no longer need Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act?  If you ask me the special protections of Section 5 are still needed but voting rights for all Americans is absolutely required.  The list above is not all-inclusive.  These are just examples of the “high jinx,” the patently illegal behavior of some to disenfranchise those voters who do not vote a particular way.

We need the VRA now more than ever but we also need election reform and stiff penalties for those who try to deprive us of this most precious civil right.