ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline
Volume 15, Number 48
May 4, 2006

In This Issue: ACTION NEEDED: CONTACT YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND 
ASK THEM TO RENEW THE LANGUAGE ASSISTANCE PROVISIONS OF THE VOTING 
RIGHTS ACT

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) is designed to ensure that 
every American citizen may cast a meaningful vote in local, state, 
and federal elections in the United States.  It was passed to end 
racist practices such as poll taxes and literacy tests.  

While poll taxes and literacy tests are largely a thing of the 
past, discrimination in election practices persists.  A series of 
recent congressional hearings has demonstrated that, while 
progress has been made under the VRA, significant discrimination 
in voting is still pervasive in U.S. elections.  

Certain critical "temporary provisions" of the VRA are currently 
set to expire and must be renewed in order to protect our Nation's 
proud democratic tradition.  

* Section 5 prohibits changes to election practices which have a 
discriminatory purpose or effect.  

* Section 203 requires certain jurisdictions to provide language 
assistance to voters in areas characterized by low literacy rates 
and high concentrations of limited-English proficient persons.  
Four language minority groups are covered based upon evidence of 
historical discrimination against these groups.

* Sections 6-9 authorize the federal government to use observers 
in elections to monitor voting rights act compliance.

A bipartisan group of senators and members of the House introduced 
"The Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006" 
in the House and Senate on Tuesday, May 2nd.  We urge you to 
contact your Senators and Representatives and ask them to support 
the renewal of the temporary provisions of the Voting Rights Act. 
Additional information on the VRA can be found at: 
www.RenewtheVRA.org. 

Use ALA's Washington Office Legislative Action Center at 
http://www.onlineadvocacy.net/ to identify your Members of 
Congress and for additional information on the VRA.   

You can also call your Member of Congress directly using the U.S. 
Capitol switchboard at:  (202) 224-3121.




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