Voting Rights Act apparently safe

The Voting Rights Act, the law that encouraged hundreds of thousands of African American Southerners to register and vote, likely will be extended before its August 2007 expiration, according to a story in The New York Times.

"The Republicans know that if they question the wisdom of reauthorization the Democrats will relentlessly demagogue them on the issue," said Roger Clegg, president of the Center for Equal Opportunity, which opposes reauthorization. "They'll be called racist and accused of wanting to turn back the clock on civil rights. The Republicans would really like to have this off the table."

While some conservatives say the time for the Act has passed, others point to its successes. According to the story:

Before the act, civil rights organizations estimate, there were fewer than 300 black elected officials in the United States, with virtually none in the South, said Daniel Levitas, who works with the Voting Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union in Georgia. The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington found 1,469 black elected officials by 1970 and more than 9,500 today.

The Center for a Better South supports ways to encourage more people to register, vote and participate. More...