Lynn A. Westmoreland: “the Voting Rights Act has a proud and important legacy in my home State of Georgia and across the United States. With…”

“the Voting Rights Act has a proud and important legacy in my home State of Georgia and across the United States. With minor changes that would modernize the Voting Rights Act and better reflect the reality of what is happening in the 21st century, I would be joining many of my colleagues in voting ``yes'' today. But the bill we have before us is fatally flawed. This rewrite is outdated, unfair, and unconstitutional. I cannot support it in its current form. This rewrite treats Georgia as if nothing changed in the past 41 years. In other words, this rewrite seems based on the assumption that the Voting Rights Act hasn't worked. As a Georgian who is proud of our tremendous progress and proud of our current record of equality, I am here to report to my colleagues in the House that the Voting Rights Act has worked in my State, and now it is time to modernize the law to deal with the problems of today, not yesteryear. Mr. Chairman, it is true when the Voting Rights Act was first passed in 1965 Georgia needed Federal intervention to correct decades of discrimination. Now, 41 years later, Georgia's record on voter equality can stand up against any other State in the Union. Today, black Georgians are registered to vote at higher percentages than white Georgians, and black Georgians go to the polls in higher percentages than white Georgians.…”