Senate Passes Renewal of Historic Voting Rights Act with Cantwell's Support
Senate Passes Renewal of Historic Voting Rights Act with Cantwell's Support
Senator calls legislation an essential tool to keep discrimination out of U.S. elections, provide language assistance to voters with limited English
Thursday, July 20,2006
WASHINGTON, DC - Thursday, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) commended the Senate's vote to reauthorize and update the historic Voting Rights Act, originally passed in 1965 to ensure equal rights throughout our country's voting process. Cantwell stressed the importance of key provisions calling for oversight of states and localities with long histories of voting discrimination and providing for continued bilingual ballots in counties with heavy concentrations of voters whose primary language is not English.
"We have a responsibility to guard against inequality and injustice at the polls and ensure that every citizen receives an equal say in their government," said Cantwell. "Since 1965, the Voting Rights Act has prohibited the measures that once disenfranchised many minority voters, and has helped new citizens with limited English make their voice heard. I am proud to have been a sponsor of the historic legislation we passed today."
Several provisions of the Voting Rights Act are set to expire in August 2007. These provisions include:
+ Requirements that localities with a long history of voting discrimination get permission from the U.S. Attorney General or the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before changing election procedures.
+ Provisions giving the Attorney General the authority to send federal examiners to monitor elections, documenting and deterring any inappropriate conduct.
+ Requirements that bilingual ballots and other language assistance be provided in areas with large numbers of voters with limited Englishincluding Chinese ballots in King County and Spanish ballots in Yakima, Adams, and Franklin Counties.
http://cantwell.senate.gov/news/record.cfm?id=259130&&days=30&