As part of our pre-dinner small talk over a nice glass of wine the other night, my good friend commented: “Did you hear they extended the Voting Rights Act? I can’t believe there was even a discussion over it.”
“That’s right,” I said, “they wanted to eliminate the bilingual ballots. Fortunately, they failed.”
The young couple who were with us were clueless. “What’s the Voting Rights Act?” they asked.
We explained to our friends how the Voting Rights Act protects the rights of minority voters who would otherwise be disenfranchised from the electoral process. “Really? I thought every American citizen had the right to vote. Why do we need a special act to protect that right?” one friend asked.
It should be that way, but the VRA was created -- among other reasons -- to protect African-Americans from discrimination at the polls and to ensure bilingual ballots for those who are not proficient in English. Going into further explanation of the issue would have been a real snoozer, and we didn’t want to spoil the dinner party, so we went on with our appetizers instead.
Of course, being in the news business, sometimes I think everyone knows what’s going on in the world, especially in his or her own country. I tend to forget that people have lives and that once in a while they check in to see if world events or anything their government does will impact those lives.
Unless you are an African-American living in an area that has not evolved politically or a naturalized citizen whose English is not up to par, you probably would not be impacted by the Voting Rights Act. Unfortunately, there are many who are.
The Voting Rights Act was enacted in 1965 as part of the civil-rights movement. Since then, the law has been reauthorized four times. Several provisions were set to expire in 2007, but Congress decided to extend them ahead of time, no doubt with the mid-term election in mind.
The extension breezed through the Senate with a 98-0 vote; however, it was not smooth sailing in the House of Representatives. Republican Steve King of Iowa wrote a letter in February, signed by 56 of his fellow congressmen, urging House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. -- author of the VRA extension bill -- to let Section 203 expire. Section 203 requires jurisdictions to provide bilingual ballots where large numbers of voters have limited knowledge of the English language. It was originally included to protect Puerto Ricans who were educated in Spanish but were American citizens, then extended to include more minority voters in other parts of the country.
The critics argued that Section 203 encourages “linguistic division” in the country and puts a burden on cities that have to pay for the cost of printing ballots in several languages. Myths, according to testimony by John Trasviña, interim president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Mr. Trasviña said that many complicated ballot provisions demand a higher level of English proficiency than is required for naturalization. “Even native speakers of English often find the legalistic language of many ballot provisions difficult to interpret,” he said. And as far as cost is concerned, studies show that Section 203 presents very little or no extra cost to municipalities.
It’s obvious that the anti-immigrant obsession was behind that effort, failing to realize that undocumented immigrants don’t vote. However, U.S. naturalized citizens of any ethnic background do, and they need to clearly understand what they are voting for. The House finally did pass the VRA intact, with 33 Republicans voting against it. Before signing the extension, President Bush praised its approval, describing it as “one of the most important pieces of legislation in our nation’s history. It has been vital to guaranteeing the right to vote for generations of Americans and has helped millions of our citizens enjoy the full promise of freedom.”
Now that those rights will be enjoyed for another 25 years, our government should consider taking the next step to increase voter participation and have more than just a fraction of Americans elect their representatives. Voting should not just be a right but a civil obligation, as it is in many countries. It would also help to increase voter turnout if Election Day was declared a national holiday or moved to Sunday, as it is in most of the world.
By the way, the dinner of chicken in a fig-and-onion sauce, rice, string beans and pistachio ice cream for dessert was fabulous.***(Maria Elena Salinas is the author of “I AM MY FATHER’S DAUGHTER: LIVING A LIFE WITHOUT SECRETS.” Reach her at www
.mariaesalinas.com)© 2006 by Maria Elena Salinas
Distributed by King Features Syndicate |
