FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 13, 2006
Contact: In DC - Brandon MacGillis (202) 225-4431
In CO - Chris Arend (303) 844-4988 

 
 WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Representative Diana DeGette (D-CO) voted for the passage of H.R. 9, the Voting Rights Act Reauthorization, which strengthens the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA) and extends for 25 years its expiring provisions.
 

“The Voting Rights Act is the most effective civil rights law ever enacted,” said DeGette.  “Thankfully we were able to reauthorize this act today.”

In 1965, the VRA was enacted in direct response to evidence of significant and pervasive discrimination at the polls taking place across the country, including the use of literacy tests, poll taxes, intimidation, threats, and violence.  By outlawing techniques that prevented minorities from voting, the VRA put teeth in the 15th Amendment’s guarantee that no citizen can be denied the right to vote on the basis of race. 

“Our democracy depends on protecting the right of every American citizen to vote,” said DeGette.  “As we saw again in the 2000 Presidential election, every vote counts – and every vote must be counted.  The right to vote must never be compromised.”

The VRA extensions have been renewed four times by bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate, and signed into law by both Republican and Democratic Presidents.  In the 41 years since its initial passage, the VRA has enfranchised millions of racial, ethnic and language minority citizens by eliminating discriminatory practices and removing other barriers to their political participation.  In doing so, the VRA has empowered minority voters and has helped to desegregate legislative bodies at all levels of government.

“We did the right thing in 1965 by passing the Voting Rights Act and happily we did the right thing again today by reauthorizing this important act,” said DeGette.

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