Constitution

Voting Rights Act: Section 5 of the Act--History Scope and Purpose; Hearing before the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Committee on the Judiciary House of Representatives One Hundred Ninth Congress First Session October 25 2005

2006 · 76534 — Washington DC: U. S. Government Printing Office 2006. Presumed First Edition First printing. Wraps. Good. Serial No. 109-79. Volume I ONLY. Volume I v 1 1684 6 pages. During this hearing Representative John Lewis of Georgia stated "The Voting Rights Act helped expand our democracy and open up our democracy to elect hundreds of thousands and millions of our citizens who had been kept out let them in. The Voting Rights Act was needed then and it is needed now. The purpose of section 5 is very unique and very important. It prevents discriminatory plans from being enacted in the first place. It put the burden on the judiciary to show that the plan does not discriminate against minority voters. Congress Lewis continued "Prior to section 5 the burden was on the minority voters to challenge the voting practice; and every section was good at coming up with different procedures that had the same result discrimination. Anita Earls' testimony talks in some detail about the recent example how this is still happening. The difference is that we have section 5 to prevent these practices from harming minority voters. Many people like the court said that we have come a long ways; and again today I would say that we've come a distance. We've come a long way and that is true. We're not the same Nation that we were 40 years ago but it's clear today that we have not come far enough. Section 5 is still needed. Today section 5 prevents discrimination and redistricting and changes that move voting locations out of minority neighborhoods into less accessible areas. These are issues that are different from the fight to register to vote but they are no less fundamental." U. S. Government Printing Office paperback