[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 98 (Monday, July 24, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1495-E1496]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




FANNIE LOU HAMER, ROSA PARKS, AND CORETTA SCOTT KING VOTING RIGHTS ACT 
               REAUTHORIZATION AND AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2006

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. BETTY McCOLLUM

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 13, 2006

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 9) to amend 
     the Voting Rights Act of 1965:

  Ms. McCOLLUM of Minnesota. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of 
the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights 
Act (H.R. 9). I am a proud co-

[[Page E1496]]

sponsor of this bipartisan legislation, which ensures every American 
citizen has the right to vote.
  If the Constitution is the embodiment of America's ideal of equality, 
the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a historic milestone in our pursuit of 
that ideal. The namesakes of this legislation are among the tens of 
thousands of common heroes who fought, sacrificed and even perished to 
abolish the institutional barriers to voting that cast a shadow on 
American freedom for nearly 200 years. It is the responsibility of our 
generation to honor their legacy of vision and commitment through our 
diligent stewardship of their hard-won victories. Today, as America's 
elected representatives, we in Congress must renew our dedication to 
advance the cause of freedom by reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act.
  Enacted in 1965 and renewed in 1982, the Voting Rights Act (VRA) 
prohibits the use of any voting practice or procedure that 
discriminates based on race and requires certain jurisdictions to 
provide language assistance to minority citizens. The Act bars literacy 
tests, poll taxes, intimidation, threats, violence and other 
transparent assaults on liberty. It also protects against insidious 
procedural barriers such as restrictive voter registration 
requirements, districting plans that dilute minority voting strength, 
discriminatory annexations and the siting of polling places at 
inaccessible locations.
  The Department of Justice has called the Voting Rights Act ``the most 
successful piece of civil rights legislation ever adopted.'' As a 
result of the Act in Mississippi, African American registration went 
from less than 10 percent in 1964 to almost 60 percent in 1968. In 
Alabama, registration rose from 24 percent to 57 percent. These 
immediate gains in access to the polls sowed seeds of equal 
representation that future generations would reap.
  According to the American Civil Liberties Union, there were 
approximately 300 African Americans serving in public office across the 
country in 1964, including only three in Congress. Today, more than 
9,100 African Americans hold elected office at the local and state 
level, including 43 in Congress. The guarantees of full political 
participation codified in the VRA have greatly benefited all minority 
groups including Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans and Native 
Americans--the last group to win the right to vote. This impressive 
record of progress argues strongly for reauthorization of the Act.
  While most provisions of the VRA are permanent, several key 
provisions of the law are set to expire in 2007. These provisions 
include Section 5, which requires covered jurisdictions to obtain 
approval or ``pre-clearance'' from the U.S. Department of Justice 
before they can change voting practices or procedures. Section 203 of 
the Act requires election officials to provide written and oral 
assistance to certain citizens with limited English proficiency. Also 
due for reauthorization are Sections 6-9, which empower the U.S. 
Attorney General to appoint examiners and send Federal observers to 
monitor elections when evidence exists of voter intimidation at the 
polls.
  This bipartisan reauthorization bill restores the original intent of 
the VRA by making it clear that any voting rule changes motivated by 
intentional and purposeful discrimination cannot be ``precleared'' by a 
Federal court or the Department of Justice. And H.R. 9 modernizes the 
VRA by requiring the use of the most updated census data and by 
directing the GAO to determine ways to better administer election 
assistance to non-English speakers.
  Despite broad bipartisan support within the Congress for 
reauthorization, some Members question whether the VRA's protections 
are still necessary in today's America. Regrettably, almost 40 years 
after enactment of the VRA, voting discrimination is not only a painful 
memory of our past but also a persistent challenge for the present and 
future. Since the VRA was last reauthorized in 1982, the Department of 
Justice and disfranchised voters have brought hundreds of intentional 
voter discrimination cases before the courts, many within the last 5 
years.
  In 2001, the mayor and all-white Board of Aldermen of Kilmichael, 
Mississippi canceled local elections when it appeared several African-
American candidates might win seats. Elections were finally held in 
2003, after the Department of Justice used the VRA to intervene. In the 
election that followed, the town elected three African-American board 
members and their first African-American mayor.
  South Dakota enacted a redistricting plan in 2001 that ``packed,'' or 
over-concentrated Native Americans into a district, preventing them 
from creating a majority voting bloc in an additional, neighboring 
district. Three years later, a Federal court invalidated the state's 
plan, finding ``substantial evidence'' that state officials excluded 
Native Americans from voting and holding office.
  Local officials in Bexar County, Texas attempted to undermine Latino 
voting strength in a 2003 special election by neglecting to site 
polling places near those communities. Using the special provisions of 
the VRA, Latino advocates were able to prevent Latino voters from being 
silenced in the election by obtaining expedited assistance from the 
local district court.
  And not all voting irregularities are local. The mere mention of 
``Florida'' or ``Ohio'' evoke the voting controversies of the 2000 and 
2004 Presidential elections, which called the legitimacy of the 
outcomes into question and shook Americans' confidence in our elections 
process. The effort to reestablish confidence in the elections process 
has produced new controversies over electronic voting machines that 
leave no paper record for verification and recounts.
  Clearly, the voting discrimination and irregularities that inspired 
the Voting Rights Act persist and serve to remind us that the right to 
vote cannot be taken for granted, but it must be actively protected and 
defended. By passing H.R. 9 and reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act, 
Congress reinforces the foundations of American democracy and keeps 
faith with generations of Americans past and future. I urge my 
colleagues to reject all attempts to weaken the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa 
Parks, and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act (H.R. 9) and to support 
the bipartisan compromise before us today.

                          ____________________