Washington, DC— Congresswoman Diane E. Watson hailed today’s reauthorization of key expiring provisions of the historic Voting Rights Act.  The bill, H.R. 9, passed intact.  Most significantly, an effort to amend Section 5 of the Act was defeated.  Section 5 requires jurisdictions with a history of voter discrimination to seek pre-clearance from the federal government before changing voting practices or procedures.  An attempt to strip bilingual voter assistance from the Act also failed.

Congresswoman Watson delivered the following statement:

The passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act is a crowning achievement of Congress and the Civil Rights Movement.  Some in Congress believe that we no longer need a Voting Rights Act, that forty-one years is enough.  Others want to kill the bill by watering down key expiring provisions.

Yes, we’ve made considerable progress in the past four decades.  But much work remains to be done.  The sad fact is that in every national election since Reconstruction, in every election since the Voting Rights Act passed in 1965, American voters have faced calculated and determined efforts by persons and groups whose goal is to deny them their right to vote.

Gone are the days of poll taxes and literacy tests. Today, however, intimidation, threats, innuendo, and deception are still used to discourage voter turnout.  The list of strategies used to deny Americans their right to vote is long and varied.  It includes challenges and threats against individual voters at the polls by armed private guards, fake poll monitors, and even local creditors; criminal tampering with voter registration rolls and records; roadblocks placed near polling stations; insufficient placement of polling stations and machinery in predominately minority voter precincts; the purging of voter rolls; and the distribution of fliers and radio advertisements containing false information.
    
Every eligible American is guaranteed the right to vote.  Despite this guarantee, there are groups and individuals who still seek to deny Americans their most fundamental right.  That's why the Voting Rights Act is still needed.  It provides additional protection to Americans living in jurisdictions where discriminatory conduct remains.  I applaud the House for renewing the Act for another twenty-five years. 

Everything about our democracy is predicated on the fundamental right to vote.  As we seek to spread the ideals of democracy around the world, it is critical that we ensure that democracy works here at home.