Why we still need the Voting Rights Act: One story sums it up

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You know what the people who wantto get rid of a key provision of the Voting Rights Act are saying: They claim it’sa relic from an era when America had just ended legal apartheid.  We’re past those bad old days, they say.But the fact that you can’t put a“whites only” sign on a water fountain or impose a poll tax doesn’t mean racismis a thing of the past.

President Lyndon Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act 
as Martin Luther King, Jr., and other civil rights leaders look on
LBJ Library photo by Yoichi R. Okamoto

Consider this story, told by Tom Perez, assistant attorney general for the JusticeDepartment's Civil Rights Division, and reportedby The Huffington Post:A county in Texas wanted to moveits polling place from a school to a private club – a club that had a historyof segregation.  But Texas is covered bythe Voting Rights Act.  Under Section 5of the act, the county had to get advance approval, known as “pre-clearance,”from either the Justice Department or a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals forthe District of Columbia.  It never got that far.  As soon as the Justice Department asked formore information – the equivalent of raising a governmental eyebrow - thecounty withdrew the request.It is Section 5 that now is underchallenge, in a case to be heard by the Supreme Court during the currentterm."Section 5 continues to benecessary, and Section 5 is not over inclusive," Perez said. "Andthat is why we will continue to vigorously defend Section 5 in the SupremeCourt."