Do we still need the Voting Rights Act?

The Voting Rights Act is still needed. It is a necessary piece of legislation. The Voting Rights Act made it illegal to use poll taxes and literacy tests to deny people the opportunity to register to vote or to vote in general. The federal government also would help in registering voters.

In looking at events that are occurring in some states today, it would be a fair conclusion to say the law is still needed....

The Voting Rights Act is still needed. It is a necessary piece of legislation. The Voting Rights Act made it illegal to use poll taxes and literacy tests to deny people the opportunity to register to vote or to vote in general. The federal government also would help in registering voters.

In looking at events that are occurring in some states today, it would be a fair conclusion to say the law is still needed. The reason why this law was passed was to ensure that minorities, mainly African-Americans, wouldn’t be denied the right to vote. The use of literacy tests and poll taxes limited the opportunity of many African-Americans from voting, especially in the South. Today, we are seeing the passage of voter identification laws in some states. Despite very little evidence of voter fraud, these laws require a voter to show identification in order to vote. However, many poor people don’t have basic forms of identification such as a driver’s license. They also can’t afford to take time off of work to go get a state identification card. Since lower income people tend to vote for Democrats, and since many voter identification laws are being passed by state legislatures that are mainly controlled by Republicans, there is a fear that voter identification laws are really a way to mask suppressing the vote of lower income people. This would aid Republicans and hurt Democrats.

There have been and are too many instances throughout our history where various forms of discrimination have been used against different groups of people. One area where this occurred was in the area of voting. Therefore, any law that protects voting rights should not be eliminated in my opinion.