City of Philadelphia - File #: 050708

• File #: 050708
• Version: 0
• Type: Resolution
• Status: ADOPTED
• File created: 6/16/2005
• In control: CITY COUNCIL
• Final action: 6/16/2005
• Title: Urging the U.S. Congress to Support the Reauthorization of Key 1965 Voting Rights Act Provisions
• Sponsors: Councilmember Tasco, Councilmember DiCicco, Councilmember Goode, Councilmember Kelly, Council President Verna, Councilmember Rizzo, Councilmember Blackwell, Councilmember Reynolds Brown, Councilmember Miller, Councilmember Clarke, Councilmember O'Neill, Councilmember Ramos, Councilmember Nutter, Councilmember Cohen, Councilmember Krajewski, Councilmember Mariano, Councilmember Kenney

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result	Tally
6/16/2005	0	CITY COUNCIL	ADOPTED
6/16/2005	0	CITY COUNCIL	READ
6/16/2005	0	CITY COUNCIL	Introduced	Pass

Title
Urging the U.S. Congress to Support the Reauthorization of Key 1965 Voting Rights Act Provisions
Body
WHEREAS, Forty years ago, after the bloody march on Selma, Alabama, Congress passed and President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the historic Voting Rights Act creating federal enforcement power to strike down centuries of voter discrimination against blacks and people of color; and

WHEREAS, The key provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act ("Act") will expire in August 2007 unless Congress acts to reauthorize them; and

WHEREAS, Section 5 of the Act contains the "pre-clearance" provisions requiring jurisdictions in all or part of 16 states to prove to the Department of Justice that a voting change will not have the discriminatory purpose of effecting minority voters; and

WHEREAS, Sections 6 through 9 of the Act authorizes the Department of Justice to appoint examiners and send observers to the polls to deter, witness, or report discriminatory activities; and

WHEREAS, Section 203 of the Act requires more than 450 counties and townships to provide bilingual language assistance to limited English speaking voters; and

WHEREAS, The original 1965 Voting Rights Act made these provisions "temporary" subject to reauthorization by Congress based on evidence that the need for these provisions continues to exist; and

WHEREAS, There is an effort to make these provisions "national and permanent" that could cause these Voting Rights Act provisions to be ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court; and

WHEREAS, There are several legal precedents that require that the provisions be "narrowly tailored" or "congruent and proportional" to address the harms it is designed to cure; and

WHEREAS, To meet constitutional muster there is a need to establish a new record of evidence to document for Congress the continued need for the Voting Rights Act...