Page 3 - Voting Discrimination News Today

Tell kat, to call carla, to confirm katrina is still coming. olly. its considered one of the most important pieces of civil rights legislation ever passed. but by 5-4 the u.s. supreme court today took the teeth out of a law enacted nearly 50 years ago. >> the voting rights act has policed voter discrimination but todays decision effectively puts it on hold. >> chief justice john roberts summarized his opinion of four telling words, "our country has changed." >> justice ginsburg has filed a dis...

So when you put that together, when you put together john bush, when you put in thomas farrar, nominated to a seat on the eastern district of north carolina, someone who has been the lawyer defending the north korea voter suppression law, and who was the mentee of jesse helms and defended the jesse helms campaign that was accused by the department of justice of intimidating black voters. someone who has an own broken career of defending voting discrimination. and you put that together then with ...

Polling as a statistical tie. kristen clark is with the lawyers committee for civil rights under law, a nonprofit organization that has brought the majority of the pending voter rights cases in the state of georgia. welcome, kristen. >> thank you. >> youve called georgia ground zero for voter suppression. why? >> when we think about the voter suppression playing out across the country right now, we see the voting discrimination at every level, at the local level, at the state level. you just tal...

This wednesday congressional democrats introduced legislation to restore what was lost in that 2013 ruling called the voting rights advancement act of 2015. joining me now is contributing writer for the nation magazine and author of "give us the ballot." the modern struggle for voting rights in america. >> thank you for having me and blurbing my book. now its official. the bill is significant because it does two major things. it forces those states with a history of voting discrimination over th...

With a history of voting discrimination to seek federal approval before making changes to voting laws and 40 of north carolinas 100 counties were covered at the time of the decision. just a month later north carolinas republican legislature and its republican governor enacted a spate of tough, new voting restrictions and lopped a week off the early voting period. they ended same day registration during early voting and banned the extension of voting hours due to long lines at the polls. starting...

Righ rights. but thats going to take a long haul because the right to vote has always been a political football. its been about restricting the voice of people who those in power dont want to hear from. thats how you maintain power is to keep other people silent and thats why its been manipulated. >> let me ask you, are you surprised that i am sitting here talking with someone who holds office in ohio as ground zero because we started with our, like, mississippi is kind of the obvious place wher...

Voting process for all americans. we do have a messed up system in many ways thats keeping people waiting in lines one to seven hours. and chief among them is really upgrading our voter registration system. >> its not just as you well-known at the brennan center you track this information, its not just the states. look at my home state, chriss home state of pennsylvania and whats taking place in the commonwealth of pennsylvania wouldnt have been effected by the votiing rights act which is why i ...

Act. theres section two, a provision that allows for private litigants and for the department of justice to pursue discriminatory changes to methods of elections, and the hopes of other discriminatory voting measures as a provision that allows for jurisdictions that have intensely discriminated to be bailed in to coverage, where they have to submit their voting changes for approval. but i like the point that congressman lewis made about how the supreme courts devastating, and really, disgraceful...

Reauthorized the voting rights fact 2006. tuesday attorney general holder told the naacp convention in orlando that the u.s. has rare and historic opportunity to pass legislation strengthening modern voting protections. >> this was a deeply disappointing and flawed decision. congress must take steps to ensure that every eligible american has equal access to the polls. >> holder also announced for the first time hes directed the dojs civil rights division to shift resources to the voting acts pro...

Grandfather clauses and look at two aspects. one is the impact the same on minority voters? is there a negative impact? two, is the intent the same? is the purpose the same? i think what youre going to find is that theyre very similar aspects to practices today as existed during jim crow. >> professor, i think we need congress to act here because if they dont, were stuck with getting redressed through the courts. in terms of voting discrimination, justice only comes if its addressed in advance. ...