Debating the Voting Rights Act

An article in today's News & Observer of Raleigh uses the experience of Beaufort County, a coastal community in eastern North Carolina, to illustrate the impact of, and debate surrounding, the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Congress currently is considering renewing Section 5 of the Act. That law requires certain political jurisdictions in the South (including 40 counties in North Carolina) to submit proposed changes to election laws and practices to the U.S. Justice Department for approval.

The pre-clearance provision was adopted to prevent Southern states from denying political rights to African-American citizens. The provision was renewed once during the 1980s, and a proposal to extend it for another 25 years is pending before Congress. Some elected officials oppose renewal on the grounds that it is no longer needed, burdensome to local communities and unfair in that it only applies to the South. Other officials argue that the act is needed to prevent discrimination and protect the political rights of minority groups.

The News & Observer article shows how the arguments, both for and against, are playing out in Beaufort County. In many ways, the Beaufort County experience is similar to that of many places across the South and illustrates how the South's segregationist past continues to influence the present.