Supreme Court could gut key protection for minority voters

[steve2470]

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/02/22/supreme-court-could-gut-key-protection-for-minority-voters/


Delores Freelon had been a reliable voter for decades. But in 2011, her home state of South Carolina passed a restrictive photo ID law that threatened to prevent her from casting a ballot. Freelon’s driver’s license was set to expire later that year, and she couldn’t get a new one without a birth certificate. But like many older African-Americans born in the rural south, her birth certificate had no first name on it. Though Freelon had a Social Security card, a Medicare card, and a state health insurance card all bearing her name, she appeared to be out of luck.

In the end, Freelon was able to vote last fall. That’s because the federal government stepped in and stopped South Carolina’s law from going into effect. To do so, it relied on Section 5, a provision of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) that allows the Justice Department and the courts to block any election changes made by certain states and jurisdictions with a history of discrimination, if the change is deemed to harm minority voting rights.

For nearly half a century, since not long after the days of literacy tests and other tactics designed to prevent blacks from voting, Section 5 has helped ensure that racial minorities have an equal voice at the ballot box, voting-rights advocates say. But that could end soon. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will begin hearing arguments in Shelby County v. Holder, in which an Alabama county, backed by an array of conservative interests, argues that Section 5 is unconstitutional and should be scrapped.

In recent years, Republicans have pulled out a slew of tactics—from voter ID laws like South Carolina’s, to purges of voting rolls, to reductions in early voting—designed to make it harder for Democratic-leaning groups to vote. But getting rid of Section 5 would represent the voter-suppression movement’s biggest victory yet, and would mark a major step backwards on a core civil-rights issue that many Americans assumed was long since decided.

[gollygee]

1. K&R

[graham4anything]

2. And Ralph Nader said Gore and Bush are the same.

this is the direct cause of that logic.

May the 3rdpartyite fracturous never be allowed to duplicate what happened in 2000.