News
Media Reports - VRA 40th Anniversary
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Keeping the Polls Open - By U.S. Congressman John Lewis
THE Voting Rights Act, signed into law 40 years ago today, is often described as the highest achievement of the civil rights movement. It redeemed the soul of democracy by abolishing the legalized hypocrisy of poll taxes and literacy tests, and it freed minorities to elect candidates who better represent their values....
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News Releases - ACLU Voting Rights Litigation
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ACLU Files Lawsuit Challenging Arizona Felon Voting Ban
PHOENIX – The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona and the ACLU Voting Rights Project today filed a lawsuit seeking to restore the voting rights of former felons in Arizona who have served their prison terms but are denied the right to vote because they owe money to the state or because they committed certain types of felonies in the past. ...
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News Releases - General Voting Rights Advocacy
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News Releases - Georgia Photo ID Law Challenge
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ACLU Charges Bias in Voter ID Ruling
In an April 7, 2006, letter to U.S. Assistant Attorney General Wan J. Kim, head of the Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Rights Division, ACLU Voting Rights Project Associate Director Neil Bradley charged that Hans von Spakovsky, a former DOJ attorney (and now interim Federal Elections Commissioner), held an inappropriate and secretive bias in favor of Georgia's draconian photo ID requirement for in-person voting.
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ACLU Condemns U.S. Justice Department Decision to Approve Georgia Photo ID Law
ATLANTA – The American Civil Liberties Union today sharply criticized a decision by the U.S. Department of Justice to approve a new Georgia law that voting rights advocates say will discriminate against minority voters. The measure, H.B. 244, which was passed on March 31 and signed by Governor Sonny Perdue in April, reduces the various forms of identification that voters can use from 17 to six, and makes government-issued photo identification absolutely required in order to vote... ...
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ACLU Hails Judge's Preliminary Injunction in Ga. Photo ID Case
OCTOBER 18, ATLANTA – In a major victory for Georgia voters, a federal judge today blocked a controversial new law that dramatically restricts the types of photo identification that may be used when voting. The decision is in effect while a legal challenge to the law, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and a coalition of voting rights advocates, continues... ...
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Civil Rights Groups Urge Department of Justice to Block New Georgia Photo ID Law
March 29, 2006
ATLANTA – In a letter sent yesterday to federal officials, more than two dozen civil rights, community, religious and citizen advocacy groups, along with a consortium of private attorneys, urged the U.S. Department of Justice to block implementation of the latest Georgia law requiring photo identification as an absolute condition for in-person voting.
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Civil Rights Leaders Announce Plan to Monitor Sept. 20 Georgia Special Elections
Sept. 26, 2005, ATLANTA – A coalition of civil rights leaders today announced plans to monitor up to 30 special elections across Georgia on September 20, as part of their efforts to investigate the discriminatory impact of H.B. 244, Georgia’s new law requiring government issued photo identification for voters. In addition to monitoring potential problems at the polls on Sept. 20, the groups announced a toll-free number that Georgians can use to report difficulties voting, especially those associated with new voter id restrictions. The number is 1-877-462-5333... ...
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Voting Rights Advocates Ask Federal Court to Block Georgia Photo ID Law
Thursday, Oct. 6, ATLANTA -Voting rights advocates filed documents in federal court in Rome, Georgia, today in support of their motion for a preliminary injunction enjoining the enforcement of Georgia’s photo identification requirement for voting. The filing consists of the plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction, a 74-page brief in support of the motion, and 31 sworn declarations attesting to the negative impact of House Bill 244 on Georgia voters.
The case, Common Cause/Georgia v. Billups, 4:05-cv-201, was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Rome Division, on September 19, 2005 and was assigned to the Hon. Harold Murphy.
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Washington Post Exposes DOJ Split on Ga. Photo ID Preclearance
A team of Justice Department lawyers and analysts who reviewed a Georgia voter-identification law recommended rejecting it because it was likely to discriminate against black voters, but they were overruled the next day by higher-ranking officials at Justice, according to department documents.
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News Releases - VRA 40th Anniversary
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The Voting Rights Act at Forty
August 5, 2005 - Forty years ago this August 6, and five months after witnessing the brutal beating of non-violent civil rights marchers in Selma, Alabama, President Lyndon Johnson signed the landmark Voting Rights Act into law on August 6, 1965. Observing the President’s declaration of support for strong voting rights legislation, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., called the President’s commitment “a shining moment in the conscience of man.” Indeed, it was.
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News Releases - VRA Renewal
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ACLU Challenges Lawmakers Who Aim to Gut Voting Rights Act
June 23, WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union today strongly condemned a proposal by several Republican members of Congress to “modernize” the Voting Rights Act, noting that the move would actually gut a key enforcement provision of the historic civil rights law. ...
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ACLU Launches Campaign on Voting Rights Act Reauthorization
March 7, 2006 - WASHINGTON - On the 41st anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the American Civil Liberties Union today launched a new campaign, "Every Voice. Every Vote. Renew the Voting Rights Act" to raise public awareness and urge Congress to reauthorize the expiring sections of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965. ...
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ACLU to Launch Voting Rights Act Reauthorization Campaign
March 6, 2006. WASHINGTON- The American Civil Liberties Union will officially announce the launch of its campaign to renew the Voting Rights Act, Tuesday March 7th, the forty-first anniversary of “Bloody Sunday”, when voting rights marchers in Selma were viciously attacked by Alabama state police. The ACLU will begin its “Every voice. Every vote. Renew the Voting Rights Act” campaign with the release of two comprehensive reports that document continuing discrimination in voting against racial minorities in the South and against American Indians in the West. ...
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ACLU Urges Congress to Renew the Voting Rights Act
September 23, 2005 - Washington, DC –Laughlin McDonald, director of the ACLU Voting Rights Project in Atlanta, told participants at the Congressional Black Caucus’ (CBC) Annual Legislative Conference that Congress must renew and restore expiring sections of the historic Voting Rights Act to end discriminatory voting practices that continue to this day. McDonald, an expert on voting rights and author of A Voting Rights Odyssey: Black Enfranchisement in Georgia (Cambridge University Press, 2003), explained the history of the act and discussed the importance of renewing those provisions due to expire in 2007. McDonald and the ACLU Voting Rights Project have brought more than 300 lawsuits to enforce the act since 1980. ...
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Dr. King and the Voting Rights Act
Today we honor the life and legacy of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King’s contributions in the struggle for justice and equality are unparalleled. His actions and words galvanized a nation and brought from out of the shadows the blight of bigotry, oppression, and injustice that plagued our country.
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ELECTED OFFICIALS JOIN AALDEF TO CALL FOR RE-AUTHORIZATION OF 1965 VOTING RIGHTS ACT
City Hall, NY - Council Members and community advocates today announced the pending introduction of legislation calling on Congress to re-authorize provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act to ensure continued protection of the franchise to all New Yorkers. On the eve of the 40th Anniversary of this historic legislation, speakers at the City Hall news conference cited the need for expanding Section 203 of the Act, which requires equal access to the voting booth for all citizens, including many New Yorkers who speak a language other than English at home.
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Report discriminatory voting practices toll-free! Contact the Voting Section of the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division at 800-253-3931.
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Voting Rights Act Renewal Legislation Passes U.S. Senate 98-0! Tremendous Victory for Voting Rights Advocates & All Americans. Legislation Renews VRA Provisions for 25 Years. Bush signs VRA into law!
Click here for information detailing which states are impacted by the expiring provisions of the Voting Rights Act
ACLU Applauds Introduction of Voting Rights Act Reauthorization Legislation
MORE VRA NEWS »
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