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The purpose of the Voting Rights Act
President Lyndon Johnson appended her signature to the Voting Rights Act on the 6th of August, 1965, with the aim of doing away with racial prejudice in voting. (Mickey et.al 2017)
Prior to the signing of the VRA into law, African Americans were robbed of the right to vote in majority of the Southern states. It is a wonder how this happened and the 15th Amendment had already stipulated that the government will allow all citizens to vote, regardless of their color, race or whether they were slaves before. (Coffee et.al 2015)
The VRA changed the overseers of elections in those areas known for racial discrimination. It also scraped the administration of literacy tests, as this was one obvious tactic of preventing the African Americans from voting. In addition, the law made it legally possible to fight for justice in the event of discrimination during the voting exercise. (Mickey et.al 2017)
There have been challenges implementing this law. For instance, between 2010 and 2012, some biased laws on voter identification were introduced. These were immediately challenged in court. Many other evidently biased laws were ousted by the judiciary. Section 5 of the VRA also fought some of these discriminatory rules. (Coffee et.al 2015)
The Shelby County case of 2012 kind of gave the partisans the motivation to disenfranchise entire groups within the country. This has been greatly influenced by politics. As such, the American Legislative Exchange has been on the lead propagating prohibitory voter identification laws. Racial polarization is also to blame. Many claim that the Obama era made racism more real in the US, and brewed controversy on who exactly should cast the ballot. (Mickey et.al 2017)
The election of President trump to power was also soiled with allegations of Russian interference. If true, the American voting rights will prove greatly compromised.
References
Coffee Jr, J. C., Sale, H., & Henderson, M. T. (2015). Securities regulation: Cases and materials.
Mickey, R., Levitisky, S., & Way, L. A. (2017). Is America still safe for democracy: Why the United States is in danger of backsliding. Foreign Aff., 96, 20.
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