Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick: “the right to vote--to participate fully and fairly in the political process--is the foundation of our democracy. For…”

“the right to vote--to participate fully and fairly in the political process--is the foundation of our democracy. For years after the Civil War, many Americans were denied this fundamental right of citizenship. Horrible acts of violence and discrimination, including poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses, were used to deny African-American citizens the right to vote, especially in the South. During the 1960s, many brave men and women fought against bigotry and injustice to secure this most basic right for all Americans. The Voting Rights Act, VRA, the ``crown jewel'' of our civil rights statutes, was born out of their courage, struggle, and sacrifice. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law on August 6, 1965. It provided protection to minority communities, and prohibited any voting practice that would abridge the right to vote on the basis of race. Any ``test or device'' for registering or voting was forbidden, thereby abolishing poll taxes and literacy tests. Although the Voting Rights Act is a permanent Federal law, it contains some temporary provisions, including the ``pre-clearance'' and the bilingual provisions. The ``pre-clearance'' provisions were enacted as temporary legislation in 1965. Sections four and five address ``pre-clearance'' and are only applicable in certain parts of the country. These provisions were originally added to help bolster the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act.…”