Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Georgia Republicans challenging Voting Rights Act renewal, likely in vain
The Macon Telegraph ^ | 11/20/2005 | Jeffrey McMurray (AP)

Posted on 11/21/2005 12:48:03 AM PST by NapkinUser

WASHINGTON - A school closes that once housed a polling place. For the next election, city officials send voters to a new site across the street. In Boston, no problem. In Atlanta, no problem provided the federal government grants permission.

Such has been the law for 40 years under the Voting Rights Act, which sought to end racist poll taxes and literacy tests by putting Southern states - then the worst offenders, without question - on a shorter leash than most other places.

Now President Bush, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and congressional leaders from both political parties are pushing to renew this requirement for 25 more years. Although it doesn't expire until 2007, continuation of Section 5 - the provision involving federal preclearance of voting laws - seems a foregone conclusion.

Still, a handful of Southern Republicans - particularly those from Georgia - are determined to mount a spirited dissent, though they realize it will probably be in vain.

"It's just a matter of feeling dissed when you know you've paid for your sins or the sins of your forefathers, and it wasn't even our party that did it," said Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga.

Congress is just a few weeks into its hearings on the act's renewal, but most have involved a parade of witnesses who support extending the requirement and a small handful who don't. So Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, a Georgia Republican in his first congressional term, decided it's time for the other side to mobilize.

Earlier this month, Westmoreland called a meeting of several Southern Republicans whose states are subject to Section 5 approval. He shared with them some facts involving his state of Georgia.

First, blacks there now turn out to vote at a higher rate than whites, according to a study by two political scientists. Second, the state has little trouble electing minorities to office. Four of 13 members of the U.S. House are black, as is Thurbert Baker, who was easily re-elected as the state's attorney general.

"I'm not going to deny there weren't problems," Westmoreland said. "But right now, if you look at those same communities where there were problems, those communities are controlled by minorities."

Ironically, the loudest voices for continuing Section 5 use the same primary argument as those who want to scrap it. They just insist the progress happened mostly because the Voting Rights Act was there at all. Take that away, they fear, and discrimination returns in force.

At a news conference this past week largely in response to Westmoreland's efforts, Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat and civil rights leader, called Section 5 "the heart of the act." His Georgia Democratic colleagues agreed, with Rep. David Scott predicting a "full-frontal assault" by opponents. "In an ideal world we would not need the Voting Rights Act, and in an ideal world we could apply Section 5 across the board without watering it down and making it ineffective," said Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Ga. "But if history, both past and present, teaches us anything, it's that we do not live in an ideal world."

In just a few months as a congressman, this is the second time Westmoreland has led a chorus of few on an otherwise unpopular crusade. After Hurricane Katrina slammed the Gulf Coast, he voted against a $52 billion aid package that passed overwhelmingly, not convinced there was enough fiscal management.

"I think it takes some political courage to do what's right," Westmoreland said.

Westmoreland contends Congress should either scrap the Section 5 requirement altogether or make it apply to every state. Proponents say that idea is no better because it would dilute civil rights challenges and make the law far more likely to be overturned by the courts on the grounds the federal government is infringing on states' rights.

The congressman says he is confident most Georgia Republicans are with him, including Sen. Saxby Chambliss, who acknowledges he has similar concerns. But some other Southern lawmakers, including two Republicans from neighboring Alabama, are torn.

Rep. Jo Bonner, from Mobile, says the Voting Rights Act shouldn't be eliminated if it means a return to the days of discrimination. Still, he says, there is inherent unfairness.

"You're applying a standard on the Southern states you're not applying elsewhere," Bonner said. "In Columbus, Ohio, you don't have to pre-clear when moving a voting precinct from a church in one part of town to another part of town. We do in Thomasville, Alabama. It's not punishment, but it's added expense."

Actually, civil rights leaders even dispute that point. Officials say the cost of going through the hoops of Section 5 is less than 3 percent of what it takes to run an election, usually far less.

Under the Voting Rights Act, "retrogression" against minorities isn't allowed, but even 40 years later, there are various opinions on what exactly that means.

For most of that period, it was assumed an election change - such as redistricting, which Georgia has done twice in the last few years - couldn't dilute the ability of minorities to elect candidates they choose to office. But in the 2003 Supreme Court case Georgia v. Ashcroft, the justices found such plans could be approved provided they still let black voters influence an election.

Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., who sits on the Judiciary Committee's Constitution panel, which is considering reauthorization, calls the retrogression standard a "mixed bag" that needs to be revamped.

"I'm going to try to find out if we could salvage Section 5 by bringing more clarity to it," Bachus said. "If we can't do that, I would just support letting it expire." Supporters of reauthorization say it's fitting that the most vocal opposition is coming from Georgia, which recently had a federal court rule it couldn't enact a new law requiring voters without a driver's license to pay for a state-issued ID badge. Lewis equates the move to a poll tax, falling disproportionately on minorities, but the Justice Department cleared it.

The Georgia Republicans aren't claiming they have the votes in Congress to sink Section 5, but they insist they aren't afraid to try.

"That happens sometimes," Gingrey said. "You don't have much of a snowball's chance in hell of winning. You still feel like it's the right thing to do, so you strap on your helmet, go out there, and if you fail, you walk away with your pride."


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Georgia
KEYWORDS: letitdie; section5; southernbigotry; votingrightsact
Under section five on the voter rights act, reconstruction continues. Southern states are being held to a separate and unequal standard.
1 posted on 11/21/2005 12:48:03 AM PST by NapkinUser
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: NapkinUser
Yep. Only this time the Democrats' rationale for extending Section Five has shifted. They want it extended to punish the South for switching its allegiance to the GOP.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

2 posted on 11/21/2005 1:12:20 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: goldstategop

I am not sure of your position. Are you in favor of discriminating against Afro-Americans having equal voting rights?

Are you denying that Blacks historically had reduced voting rights?

You seem to assert a very odd POV among Freepers.


3 posted on 11/21/2005 1:51:49 AM PST by thomaswest (Just Curious)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: thomaswest
Of course not. What I am saying is the South shouldn't keep on paying for the sins of the past. That's why I'm in favor of repealing Section Five. But the Democrats are using past racial discrimination now as cover to punish the GOP South. It make sense to revisit the whole thing but its unlikely to happen.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

4 posted on 11/21/2005 1:55:44 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: thomaswest

You really believe that in 2005 section five in really stopping states like Georgia from stopping blacks from voting? Are you kidding? Section five is old news, it's no longer needed, and not fair in the least bit. There is no reason Georgia should have to ask the federal government anything if states like New York don't.

"You seem to assert a very odd POV among Freepers."

I think it's you who is taking the odd point-of-view.


5 posted on 11/21/2005 2:17:21 AM PST by NapkinUser ("Our troops have become the enemy." -Representative John P. Murtha, modern day Benedict Arnold.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: thomaswest

Wow you didn't even read the fine article, did you?

About 2/3 in they talk about the undue burden put on Southern states for pre-clearing changes in say voting locations and point out how black voter turnout in Georgia is greater (percentage-wise) than white turnout.

They also point out the number of blacks in elected office.

It's not about race, although that is how the DNC will spin it.

Are you a democrat or do you just post without reading habitually?


6 posted on 11/21/2005 2:20:42 AM PST by dyed_in_the_wool ("Man's character is his destiny" - Heracleitus)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: NapkinUser

I really wish Ron Woodgeard was still alive. Used to post his stuff from the Telegraph all the time. Still, the Macon Telegraph is a paper more people should read.


7 posted on 11/21/2005 2:31:06 AM PST by real saxophonist (The fact that you play tuba doesn't make you any less lethal. Semper Fi)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: thomaswest

Poll tax, my butt. Buses are going around trying to make voter IDs available to "poor" votrs. I think I read that they are free for those who cannot pay a minimum amount. The response has been terrible. The only thing the voter ID law will prevent is buses coming around in poor neighborhoods on voting day and paying people for their votes as they are whisked off to the polls.


8 posted on 11/21/2005 2:43:35 AM PST by freeangel ( (free speech is only good until someone else doesn't like what you say))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: thomaswest
Are you in favor of discriminating against Afro-Americans having equal voting rights?

And while we're at it, can we please dispense with the hyphenated American garbage?

Teresa Heinz is an African American. The average black NATIVE AMERICAN has NEVER even been to Africa, and knows little or nothing about African culture -- beyond the myths and outright lies created by the so-called "black leadership."

Anyone born here is a NATIVE AMERICAN, just as I am, even though my four grandparents were all Jews from Russian and Poland.

The purpose of Hyphenated-Americanism is to delegitimize America by depriving it of its culture and sense of national unity.

Bad enough that the Progressive multi-culturalists heyphenate everybody. Those of us who were born here and love America and know no other culture don't need to help them by adopting this offensive convention.

9 posted on 11/21/2005 4:19:55 AM PST by Maceman (Fake but accurate -- and now double-sourced)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Maceman
what's the chance a republican in the senate will have the courage to filibuster this?
10 posted on 11/21/2005 6:01:19 AM PST by conservative physics
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: conservative physics

A big fat zero. No republican, even ones from the states under the imperial federal government's rule, don't have the guts to stand up there and filibuster and have every left-wing blog and CNN call them racist, black-haters and bigots.


11 posted on 11/21/2005 12:57:46 PM PST by NapkinUser ("Our troops have become the enemy." -Representative John P. Murtha, modern day Benedict Arnold.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson