Voting Rights Act Hearings a Must

August 20, 2005 by Dorothy Ehrlich, Executive Director, ACLU-NC, The San Francisco Chronicle

Editor -- California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson must be commended for his impassioned plea to renew the 1965 Voting Rights Act ("No Americans should be denied our most precious right -- to vote," Open Forum, Aug. 18). No law has been more successful in securing the Constitution's guarantee of equality for all. Bipartisan endorsement of the Voting Rights Act is needed to keep elections fair and accessible to all voters.

However, Secretary McPherson's call to make permanent the act's expiring provisions without congressional hearings could threaten the law, not preserve it. The U.S. Supreme Court has made clear that for such laws as the VRA to pass constitutional muster, Congress must establish a detailed record. Also, though it may seem attractive to make permanent the law's expiring provisions, legal scholars agree that doing so would undermine its constitutionality because it would no longer be "narrowly tailored" to address the specific harm it was designed to cure.

That is why the ACLU and other civil rights organizations are working with members of Congress to hold comprehensive hearings this fall. Secretary McPherson is correct in saying Americans should not be denied their precious right to vote. Let's ensure that Congress does it right.