Preview

Voting Rights Dbq

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
714 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Voting Rights Dbq
The Voting Rights Act of 1965, originally designed as a temporary emergency measure, quickly suspended the use of all literacy tests, as well as good character requirements. Congress believed that enacting the voting rights act was necessary because it enforced the pre-existing 15th and 19th amendments.
As President Lyndon B. Johnson stated after signing the voting rights act on August 6th, that day was “a triumph for freedom as huge as any victory that has ever been won on any battlefield”. Not only did this act abolish literacy tests, it abolished the last barrier for voting other than age. As Johnson also stated, “to seize the meaning of this day, we must recall darker times,” referring to the years of slave owning, when African Americans
…show more content…
Holder overturned sections 4(b) and 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. These sections set various requirements for Southern states to ensure they avoided discrimination against African-Americans and other minorities by forcing select states to send their polling numbers to the federal government for review. The Court ruled it unconstitutional, finding it unnecessary for the current time and cited its cumbersome nature in relation to federalism and equal sovereignty of the states. With these constrictions lifted, states would no longer need permission from the federal government when determining their voting procedures. This would allow states to do as they please, more or less, and potentially, open doors for various dynamic practices including more diverse primary …show more content…
As of 2012, 1.8 million dead people were registered to vote, a serious concern. In California, John Cenker voted from the grave 5 times, including two presidential elections, and it is roughly estimated that there are around 300 others in the Southern California area just like him. While it does not seem like a large part of the population, elections do get decided by small portions of the electorate with some frequency, making the relevance of voter fraud felt in those situations. To deal with this and other related issues, the government should issue Voter IDs to prevent the dead from voting and remain vigilant with regards to multiple votes cast by other individuals.
To limit voter disenfranchisement the government could do many things. One of the measures they could take to ensure that voter disenfranchisement is less common in America is to subsidise public transportation costs on election days so people without access to transportation can get out and to cast their vote. Another thing the government could do so disenfranchisement is less common is make sure that all venues that polling places are hosted at have wheelchair access so handicapped people can vote without as much

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    - The Act prohibits states from imposing any "voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure ... to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on…

    • 772 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Although a majority nationwide favor the federal vote-enforcement law, the federal fair employment practice law, the Kennedy civil rights bill, and the public-accommodation bill, most Southerners opposed them (p. 142). If the Southern view had prevailed, both races and the country would have been better off. These laws lead to a more powerful, micromanaging federal government and the destruction of the Black man’s independence and thus his…

    • 1312 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    July 2, 1964, President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act, prohibiting discrimination of all genders, races, and religions, etc……

    • 426 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    15th amendment

    • 293 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Fifteenth Amendment (Amendment XV) to the United States Constitution prohibits the federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to votebased on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude". It was ratified on February 3, 1870, as the third and last of the Reconstruction Amendments.In the final years of the American Civil War and theReconstruction Era that followed, Congress repeatedly debated the rights of the millions of black former slaves. By 1869, amendments had been passed to abolish slavery and provide citizenship and equal protection under the laws, but the narrow election of Ulysses S. Grant to the presidency in 1868 convinced a majority of Republicans that protecting the franchise of black voters was important for the party's future. After rejecting more sweeping versions of a suffrage amendment, Congress proposed a compromise amendment banning franchise restrictions on the basis of race, color, or previous servitude on February 26, 1869. The amendment survived a difficult ratification fight and was adopted on March 30, 1870.United States Supreme Court decisions in the late nineteenth century interpreted the amendment narrowly, and by 1910, most black voters in the South faced obstacles such as poll taxes and literacy tests, from which white voters were exempted by grandfather clauses. A system of whites-only primaries and violent reprisals by groups such as the Ku Klux Klan alsosuppressed black participation.In the twentieth century, the Court interpreted the amendment more broadly, striking down grandfather clauses in Guinn v. United States (1915) and dismantling the white primary system in the "Texas primary cases" (1927–1953). Along with later measures such as theTwenty-fourth Amendment, which forbade poll taxes in federal elections, and Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections (1966), which forbade poll taxes in state elections, these decisions significantly increased black participation in the American…

    • 293 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    voting writes. When it came time to pass the voting rights act, in 1965, there were…

    • 321 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Since the Reconstruction Era was after the civil war which abolished slavery, many “blacks relished the opportunity to demonstrate their liberation from the regulations, significant and trivial, associated with slavery.”[1] One big difference between the African-Americans being slaves and free, was the fact that they were legally allowed to vote. Frederick Douglass, a former slave during this time, said, “slavery is not abolished until the black man has the ballot.”[2] This shows how important it was for African- Americans to be able to vote during this time. It was a major symbol and representation of how free they are. This is because they would have a say in the politics, which affect the whole country. Foner describes this by saying, “In…

    • 240 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    citizen of any color to vote. After Reconstruction, the New South,” enacted literacy tests, poll taxes, elaborate registration systems, and eventually whites-only Democratic Party primaries to exclude black voters(Document L). In addition, a poll tax receipt from Louisiana 1918 required voters to pay an expensive tax of $1.00 to vote (Document K). During the time the $1.00 tax made voting a luxury because it was an exorbitant price. This resulted in millions of blacks being unfairly rejected from the voting process which was a violation of their voting rights. Literacy tests also prevented black voting since there would be a change in difficulty based on your race. A drastic decrease in black voters was a result of these laws which countered the 15th amendment. The opposite side may claim that the poll tax applied to blacks and whites. However, the grandfather clause says that taxes and tests don’t apply to men who have had a father vote, which allowed whites to vote for free while blacks never voted before. These obstacles diminished the effect of the 15th Amendment and continuous efforts were made to cripple the rights of African…

    • 665 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Voting Rights Act 1982

    • 368 Words
    • 2 Pages

    ALTHOUGH the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and its changes have brought an end to many voting terribly unfair treatments, voting practices continue to exist.…

    • 368 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Between the passing of the act and the May 1966 primary, 122,000 blacks registered to votein the state. This represented a quarter of Alabama’s…

    • 691 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Voting Rights Act of 1965 had 19 separate sections. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 protected the rights of voters in the United States. No voting qualifications to voters shall be imposed. It outlawed poll tax. American citizens could not be denied the right to vote based on race or color. The United States Attorney General was given the authority to appoint federal examiners to audit states, voting policies and practices if they felt there was a violation.…

    • 79 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    One political change that evolved after the Civil War and Reconstruction was the principle of disenfranchisement, or the denial of voting rights. The South disenfranchised black citizens in order to ensure the power of the "Solid South", a region controlled by the Democratic party. Laws were passed in each southern state to make it profoundly difficult for African Americans to vote. Various methods were used to maintain this concept. Poll taxes were initiated, where citizens had to pay a tax before voting, which most African Americans weren't able to achieve since many were poor. Other states required literacy tests. In order to vote, the person beforehand must demonstrate their ability to read and write. Although the Freedman's Bureau established an education for blacks, southern laws forced them to poorly equipped and funded schools once the organization was discontinued. African Americans lacked a basis of knowledge to pass these tests and made them ineligible to vote. Another method used if a citizen failed to pay the tax and pass the test was the grandfather clause. A citizen was qualified to vote if they had a grandfather who had previously voted…

    • 869 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “We have fought for the democratic principles of equality under the law, equality of opportunity, equality at the ballot box, for the guarantees of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” - Mary McLeod Bethune. It was not until February 3rd, 1870, when Congress ratified the 15th Amendment granting African American men the right to vote. “The inauguration of a President is an event in which the whole nation is interested, and which emphasizes the fact of citizenship, as perhaps nothing else does, coming as it does after the election, and growing out of it.” - Francis J. Grimke. Nevertheless, many colonists did not agree to the ratification of the 15th Amendment, therefore they gave a hard time for African Americans cast their vote on election day. For example, the South was a more intimidating part of the United States for African Americans. As a result of that, a high rate of individuals from the Black community moved to the North, where it consisted of less segregation and discrimination. “Some kind and good friends advise me to quit my country, and stay in Canada, until the tempest is passed.” - Jermain Wesley Loguen. Consequently, then came the establishment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to strengthen the voting rights guaranteed by the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution, therefore this act secured voting rights for racial…

    • 722 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout political history, voting has been an important factor in elections. However, during the time of the civil rights movement, a lot of discrimination against people of African-American descent started forming and was showed through restrictions on voting. As a result, President Johnson passed the Voting Rights Act on August 6, 1965, which had strengthened the 15th amendment and “provided a nationwide prohibition against the denial or abridgment of the right to vote on the literacy tests on a nationwide basis” (“History of Federal Voting Rights Laws”). Diving deeper into the Voting Rights Act, Section 5 of this act was used to have “administrative review by the Attorney General” so that there would be no change in voting that would…

    • 286 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Right To Vote

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The United States of America is known for the freedoms and opportunities that it provides. These rights include: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of press, freedom to assembly, freedom to bear arms, freedom to not quarter soldiers, freedom against unreasonable search and seizure, freedom to not self-incriminate, freedom of having a jury trial, freedom against cruel and unusual punishment, and others that are not listed in the constitution. While all of these help define our nation, the biggest freedom that U.S. citizens have is the right to vote because of what it symbolizes and the power it holds in the government..…

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The old white Redeemer govern regained power and found a way of modifying the Federal legislation in order to keep African-Americans from voting: gerrymandering ,pool taxes, property qualifications, complicated election procedures and literacy tests made it almost impossible for them and for all poor people to vote. With the “Grandfather clause” all those people who’s linear ancestors had been voting before 1867 didn’t have to take tests or pay: white people had their right again but most African American were exempted from voting.…

    • 367 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays