27 July 2006
Historic U.S. Minority Voters' Protections Extended for 25 Years
Bush administration will "vigorously enforce" the law, president says
Washington – President Bush signed the Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006, extending historic legislation designed to protect minorities' voting rights.
At a White House signing ceremony July 27, the president said, "My administration will vigorously enforce the provisions of this law, and we will defend it in court."
The law extends bans on the use of tests or other devices to deny any person the right to vote in elections.
The original Voting Rights Act was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on August 6, 1965, following public outrage over the beatings and tear gassings of blacks in Selma, Alabama, who were protesting unfair and racist practices that prevented them from voting.
While the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, passed in 1870, states that Americans' right to vote "shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude," many states continued to make it difficult for blacks to vote. States did this by implementing poll taxes, which many blacks could not afford to pay, or enacting literacy requirements for voters. The 1964 act authorized federal governments to assume control of the voter registration in any state or district that used such measures.
States and counties placed under the federal government's jurisdiction are prohibited from modifying their voting rules without first allowing federal officials the opportunity to review them.
The act also requires certain states and local governments to provide voting materials in multiple languages.
The voting rights act originally was enacted for a five-year period, but has been extended and modified several times. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan signed a 25-year extension of the law, and President Bush's signing extends it for another 25 years.
For more information on the U.S. Federal Voting Rights Law, see the Department of Justice Web site.
To read the original Voting Rights Act and other U.S. historic documents visit the Our Documents Web site.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
