Voting rights GOVT 2305, Module 5

Southern Disfranchisement After Reconstruction, southern states, including Texas, adopted various devices to keep African Americans from voting.

Disfranchisement Devices Test of understanding: a legal requirement that citizens must accurately explain a passage in the United States or state constitution before they could register to vote. Not used in Texas. Literacy test: a legal requirement that citizens demonstrate an ability to read and write before they could register to vote. Not used in Texas. Grandfather clause: a provision that exempted those persons whose grandfathers had been eligible to vote at some earlier date from tests of understanding, literacy tests, and other difficult-to-achieve voter qualification requirements. Not used in Texas. Poll tax: a tax levied on the right to vote. Used in Texas. White primary: an electoral system used in the South to prevent the participation of African Americans in the Democratic primary. Used in Texas.

Voting Rights Supreme Court invalidates grandfather clause in 1915 Court finds white primary unconstitutional in 1944. Court knocks out tests of understanding in 1965. Poll taxes eliminated in 1964 for federal elections, in 1966 for all elections.

Voting Rights Act The Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965 is a federal law designed to protect the voting rights of racial and ethnic minorities. The VRA makes it illegal for state and local governments to enact and enforce election rules and procedures that diminish African American and Latino voting power.

Pre-Clearance The VRA required state and local governments in areas with a history of voting discrimination to submit changes in election laws and procedures to the federal Department of Justice for approval before they can go into effect. This procedure was known as pre-clearance. Note: States covered by Section 5 of the VRA, the preclearance provision, had to pre-clear changes in voting laws and procedures. They had the burden to prove the changes were not discriminatory.

Shelby County v. Holder In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court considered a challenge to Section 5. Opponents said that times have changed and that the provision is no longer needed despite Congress having voted overwhelmingly to reauthorize the VRA in 2006 for another 25 years.

Opposing Views on the Court Antonin Scalia Sonia Sotomayor The reenactment of the VRA by Congress in 2006 was the “perpetuation of a racial entitlement.” “Do you think the right to vote is a racial entitlement?”

Court Ruling By a vote of 5-4, the Supreme Court effectively knocked out the pre-clearance section of the Voting Rights Act. Southern states, including Texas, have begun adopting new voting laws and procedures that critics say are designed to restrict minority voting rights. The five conservatives (Roberts, Thomas, Alito, Kennedy, and Scalia) comprised the majority in the case.

What You Have Learned What steps did southern governments take after Reconstruction to restrict voting rights? How did the VRA affect voting rights? What is pre-clearance? What is the significance of Shelby Co. v. Holder?