Voting Rights Act of 1965

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed into legislation by President Lyndon Johnson. In an attempt to maintain the integrity of this key piece of legislation, I will let it speak for itself . . .

"Section 2 of the Act, which closely followed the language of the 15th amendment, applied a nationwide prohibition against the denial or abridgment of the right to vote on the literacy tests on a nationwide basis. Among its other provisions, the Act contained special enforcement provisions targeted at those areas of the country where Congress believed the potential for discrimination to be the greatest. Under Section 5, jurisdictions covered by these special provisions could not implement any change affecting voting until the Attorney General or the United States District Court for the District of Columbia determined that the change did not have a discriminatory purpose and would not have a discriminatory effect. In addition, the Attorney General could designate a county covered by these special provisions for the appointment of a federal examiner to review the qualifications of persons who wanted to register to vote. Further, in those counties where a federal examiner was serving, the Attorney General could request that federal observers monitor activities within the county's polling place."

Amendments to this act followed in 1970, 1975, and 1982.

Click the link to read about the entire Voting Rights Act . . .