HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 09-01-20; 4-d - Resolution Celebrating the 55th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 1
ORANGE COUNTY
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT
Meeting Date: September 1, 2020
Action Agenda
Item No. 4-d
SUBJECT: Resolution Celebrating the 55th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965
DEPARTMENT: Human Rights and Relations
ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT:
Resolution Commissioner Renee Price, (919) 245-
2126
Annette M. Moore, (919) 245-2317
PURPOSE: To approve a resolution celebrating the 55t" Anniversary of the passage of the
Voting Rights Act of 1965, which occurred on August 6, 1965.
BACKGROUND: On August 6, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voters Rights Act
of 1965, considered the most crucial piece of legislation of the Civil Rights movement. A bi-
partisan Congress has strengthened the Act by amending and reauthorizing the provisions of
the Voting Rights Act five-time throughout the years.
Congress enacted the Voting Rights Act to guarantee rights granted under the 14t" and 15tn
Amendments of the United States Constitution so that no one, including state, federal, or local
government, could stop citizens from registering to vote or voting because of their race or
ethnicity. The Voting Rights Act contains numerous provisions for regulating elections laws.
Regulations in the Act a) prohibited tests and other devices that were used to keep people from
voting; b) prohibitions against voting laws that would discriminate against a racial or ethnical
minority; and c) included a preclearance requirement that prevented specific jurisdictions from
making changes to their voting laws without prior approval from the U.S Attorney General of the
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. There is also a provision specifically for ensuring
that jurisdictions having significant language minority population provide language access
services including providing bilingual ballots and other election materials.
In 2013, the United States Supreme Court in Shelby County v. Holder struck down Section 4 of
the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which contained the formula used to identify the state and local
governments that have to comply with the preclearance requirements. The Supreme Court,
while striking down the formula, left the preclearance requirement provision intact. Therefore,
none of the jurisdictions covered by the formula has to comply unless Congress enacts a new
formula to determine whom it covers.
The United States Department of Justice's data indicates that from 1982 to 2006, 750 Section 5
preclearance objections blocked approximately 2,400 discriminatory voting changes. Over half
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blocked more than 400 cases with specific evidence of intentional discrimination. Section 5 also
deterred more than 205 voting changes were withdrawn after the Department of Justice
requested additional information. The Department of Justice brought 650 successful lawsuits
under Section 2 of the Voting Right Act in covered jurisdictions.
Since Shelby v. Holder, many states have adopted restrictive voting laws that impact
communities of color. These restrictions such as strict photo ID requirements, limitation on who
can provide assistance in polling places, the curbing on early voting days, and closing of polling
places has had the effect of suppressing the votes of people of color. Other measures include
purging of voter rolls and drawing election districts to dilute the power of and influence of people
of color.
FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no financial impact associated with this item.
SOCIAL JUSTICE IMPACT: The following Orange County Social Justice Goal is applicable to
this item:
• GOAL: ENABLE FULL CIVIC PARTICIPATION
Ensure that Orange County residents are able to engage government through voting and
volunteering by eliminating disparities in participation and barriers to participation.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT: There is no Environmental Responsibility Goal impact associated
with this item.
RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board approve and authorize the
Chair to sign the Resolution.
RES-2020-051 3
ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
RESOLUTION
Celebrating the 551h Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act
WHEREAS, on February 26, 1869, the United States Congress passed the Fifteenth Amendment to
the United States Constitution and subsequently ratified the Amendment on February 3, 1870, to
grant African American men the right to vote; and
WHEREAS, African American males exercised the franchise and held political offices in many
states, particularly Southern states, throughout the 1880s; and
WHEREAS, in the 1890s, literacy tests, grandfather clauses and other devices to disenfranchise
African American men were written into the constitutions of former Confederate states; and
WHEREAS, with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, African American women were
granted the right to vote along with white women; and
WHEREAS, African Americans who attempted to register to vote experienced harassment,
intimidation, economic reprisals, physical violence and murder, including by lynching; and
WHEREAS, African American men and women nevertheless sought to secure their right to vote
through such organizations as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
and the National Urban League, as well as through the efforts of people such as A. Philip Randolph,
W. E. B. Dubois, Booker T. Washington, Fannie Lou Hamer, Ella Baker and Septima Clark; and
WHEREAS, in the 196os, the widely broadcast irreprehensible violence against demonstrators
brought heightened attention to the issue of voting rights - including the murders of Chaney,
Goodman and Schwerner on June 21, 1964, and the attack on March 7, 1965, known as Bloody
Sunday; and
WHEREAS, on August 6, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, an "act
to enforce the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution," ninety-five years after it had been
ratified; and
WHEREAS, the Voting Rights Act outlawed literacy tests and provided for the appointment of
federal examiners with the power to register qualified citizens to vote in those jurisdictions
covered according to a formula provided by the statute; and
WHEREAS, Section 5 of the Act required covered jurisdictions to obtain preclearance from the
District Court for the District of Columbia or the United States Attorney General for any new voting
procedures and practices; and
WHEREAS, Section 2 of the Act, closely following the language of the 15th Amendment, applied a
nationwide prohibition on the denial or abridgement of the right to vote on account of race or
color; and
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WHEREAS, by the end of 1965, a quarter of a million African Americans had registered as new
voters, and by the end of 1966, four of the thirteen southern states had less than fifty percent of
African Americans registered to vote; and
WHEREAS, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was extended in 1970, 1975 1982, and 2006, and efforts
currently are underway to restore certain provisions of the Voting Rights Act;
NOW, THERFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Orange County Board of Commissioners does
hereby support the passage of the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of 2020 and hereby direct the
Chair to have sent a copy of this Resolution and a letter to both North Carolina United States
Senators encouraging them to support the passage of the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act Of 2020;
and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Orange County Board of Commissioners, on behalf of the
people of Orange County, does hereby commemorate the fifty-fifth anniversary of the signing of
the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and in so doing, acknowledge the sacrifices made in order to
establish and maintain full and equal rights for all citizens of the United States.
This the 1st day of September, 2020.
Penny Rich, Chair
Orange County Board of Commissioners