Essay On Voting Issues

In the United States, currently citizens are worrying about Cecil the lion, but they should be thinking about issues that affect their everyday lives. One of these issues includes voting, in Kenneth T. Walsh’s article “Voting Rights Still a Hot-Button Issue” speaks about how President Johnson signed a law in 1965 to right a wrong, but politicians are continuing to debate this idea still. This law is being over ridden by Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder, some states who have had histories with voting related discrimination “pre-clear” any of the voting law changes that may be made. This allows for nine states to change their voting laws without prior approval. There are some states that have been imposing more restrictions on voting, but are stating that they are trying to prevent voter fraud, and are not discriminating. Some key provisions that are being proposed is a …show more content…
President Johnson was moved by an incident that happened on March 7th 1965, this was when peaceful civil rights demonstrators were beaten, and whipped on their march from Selma to Montgomery. One week later President Johnson said he would end voting discrimination once and for all. After Johnson signed the law, African Americans were still discriminated against, by being asked to recite the Constitution or impossible literacy standards. (talk about what the book says about this topic- CIVIL RIGHTS and CITE)
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 has been reauthorized in 2006, but is receiving backlash by many citizens. This would include state tightening voting access by added restrictions, like limiting the document used to identify a voter. Rules like this are not put in place to restrict the white middle class, but the lower middle class African Americans. Although President Johnson tried to end voting discrimination, it is still a prevalent topic that needs to be discussed today