Page 39 - Preclearance News Today

Court just last year found that texas had this problem and, therefore, you should impose preclearance statewide for at least ten years and texas should, just like in the old days, have to get any changes in its voting laws approved by the federal government. so thats what the justice department is doing now, to show two things. number one, that they will act state by state. secondly, theyre trying to send a message to other states that the cop is still on the beat, that theres still some life le...

Going so far so fast with this that they want to end the states totally noncontroversial popular bipartisan program that reaches out to students who are nearing the age of voting to show them how to be model citizens. if this north carolina school last year, seven kids registered to vote through citizens awareness month. we cant have students registering to vote, cant have that. so citizens awareness month will go away. along with the whole idea of preregistering young people to vote in the stat...

Bananas. >> youve got to raise the game. this is -- this is a recent example. >> theyre like, you know what, were not going to have elections. no, were done. that democracy situation, not so much. wow. >> but because then they were covered by section five of the voting rights act, the department of justice said, actually, you have to submit that for preclearance to ensure its not discriminatory in advance before it takes root. and then the election was held, in which, of course, african-american...

Of the assassination of medgar evans, the 50th anniversary of the civil rights act, and two years of the voting rights act, its a moment for us to recognize that those watershed moments are ones that fundamentally changed the course of america, influenced the way we live today, but at the same time, the core provisions to the protection of our voting rights, like section five, are now falling. so congress should receive in this moment the challenge that is presented to it, as it has this week, t...

A very long time. by the way, we have to fix that. >> yes, hes going to have to fix that. the need to fix our electoral system became even more urgent when the supreme court justices took a hatchet to the voting rights act, and in their decision, told the u.s. congress, you need to fix that. this week, both the senate and the house got to work doing just that. both houses of congress held hearings to begin figuring out how, if at all, to update the formula to determine which states need federal ...

States that have been established to intentionally discriminate in recent years can become under preclearance, can be made to have to go under preclearance. so its a bail-in option. i think civil rights lawyers need to take advantage of that aspect. >> you know, adam green, i guess what im stuck on here is we can talk about what a good fix would look like. my question is very practically, how can you get it through the republican-controlled house of representatives in an era when everything basi...

But anyone can help a foster child. im melissa harris-perry. were live at the essence festival in new orleans. weve been talking about the assault on voting rights and how that will disproportionately impact african-american communities and other communities of color. whats important to remember about the act, it did not strike down preclearance of section 5, instead struck down the farm la used to determine the states and areas subject to preclearance. because, according to chief justice john r...

The present day. yeah, whatever. so now the ball is in congresss court to come up with a new formula for states that need to be under preclearance so that all voters will be protected. this is the same congress thats on track to do even less than the last congress which set the record for the fewest bills signed into law. so councilman norton, you are the first person to make me feel like 113th can come up with a formula, because maybe we can hold mcconnells feet to the fire their 2006 behavior....

That was still used from 1964 when this bill was first passed in 1965 was being used to determine which states had to get preclearance for changes to their voting laws. so its about modernizing the law. thats what was struck down. but the essence of the voting rights act remains today and i hope youll see congress modernize it here soon. >> i can tell richard has nothing to say about this. >> listen, one second. every state where theres a republican governor there are these efforts to restrict w...

As you will in 2016. the issue is, can this congress get that map redone, a formula done before 2016? now, heres the problem. if you try to get a new map done, that means you have to go to new jurisdictions in states where youve had that kind of discrimination or disenfranchisement. youre talking about places like florida, like ohio, where blacks and other minorities have been -- have had problems getting access to the polls for the last three election cycles. does anyone realistically think a m...