Voting Rights Act

Summary Of The 1965 Voting Rights Act The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was about voting rights for black people (And other 'minorities') and how they were able to legally vote.

Before the Voting Rights Act
What started the climb towards the Voting Rights act started all the way back right after the Civil War. Before the Civil War, U.S Constitution did not provide specific protections of voting, However after the Civil War the United States Congress made the "Military Reconstruction Act" of 1867.

Military Reconstruction Act
The Military Reconstruction Act is a act that allowed former Confederate States, remember Confederate states wanted to keep slavery, to be re-admitted to the Union if they adopt the new state constitutions that allowed universal male suffrage.

During the Voting Rights Act
In 1870, only two years after The 14th Amendment was made legal, the 15th Amendment was ratified, or approved. The 15th Amendment made it possible for black people to vote. The Voting Rights Act was made after the Jim Crow Laws and other "groups" added restrictions for voting to the minorities' in the south.

The Signing of the Voting Rights Act
On August 6th 1965, President LBJ signed Section Two of the act, the 15th amendment which quickly followed, applied a nationwide ban against the rejection(s) of the right to vote on the literacy tests on a nationwide premise.

1970-75 Voting Rights Act
Back in 1970, Congress extended Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act for 5 years and again in 1975 for another 7 years. During the hearings on these time extensions Congress heard long rants concerning the ways in which voting electorates, or the person who is running, were manipulated through gerrymandering, annexations and adoption of large elections, and other structural changes to prevent newly-registered black voters from effectively using the ballot. Congress also heard more rants about voting discrimination that had been suffered by Hispanic, Asian and Native American citizens, and the 1975 amendments added protections from voting discrimination for the 'minority group' of citizens.

1982 and 2006 Voting Rights Acts
Congress renewed a part of the Voting Rights Act in 1982, the special provisions of the Act, caused by coverage under Section 4 for 25 years. Congress also adopted a new agreement, which went into effect in 1985, providing how jurisdictions could execute (or "bail out" from) coverage under the provisions of Section 4. Additionally, after many hearings, Congress amended Section 2 to provide that a plaintiff could establish a violation of the Section without having to prove discriminatory purpose.

In 2006 Congress renewed the special provisions of the Act, as part of the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, and many others, Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act. The 2006 legislation eliminated the provision for voting examiners.

The 2013 Voting Rights Act
The Supreme Court, in a 5 to 4 ruling, ruled that the Voting Rights Act had achieved it's main purpose. However, the Supreme Court overturned the Section 4 of the Act, which dealt out the formula for determining what states had to seek approval prior to enacting new voting laws.