Released: July 14, 2006

House renews 1965 Voting Rights Act

Source: By Andrea Stone, USA Today

The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Thursday to renew the 1965 Voting Rights Act, overcoming an attempt by conservatives to ease restrictions they said are no longer necessary. The 390-33 vote preserves for 25 years a law enacted at a time when Southern states employed tactics to suppress black voting and was designed to ensure no state deny people the right to vote based on their race or color.

The act was due to expire in 2007. The Senate is likely to vote on the measure this month.

Supporters said the law is needed because minorities can still be treated unfairly when legislatures change rules or redraw districts.

“I gave blood. Some of my colleagues gave their very lives,” said Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., an activist in the Civil Rights Movement that led to the act’s passage.

Lewis displayed photos of himself and others being beaten by state troopers in 1965 during a march from Selma to Alabama’s capital of Montgomery in support of black voting rights. At the time, Alabama used intimidation to prevent blacks from voting.

“We must pass this act without any amendment, it is the right thing to do,” he said to applause.

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