Common Cause Blog :: Tell Congress to renew the Voting Rights Act!

Tell Congress to renew the Voting Rights Act!

By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Fri Jun 30, 2006 at 11:35:53 AM EST

That's it -- we here at Common Cause are fed up with the delay in renewing the Voting Rights Act. While most of Congress, including the leadership of both parties in both the House and the Senate, supports renewal, there are a few who seem to want to block renewal entirely.

Unacceptable. That's what we think.

If that's what you think, as well, then join Common Cause and other civil rights and public interest groups in petitioning Congress to renew the Voting Rights Act when they return from the July 4th recess. Go here and sign our petition.

Then, pass it along to friends and family -- the more names we deliver to Congress, the more they will know that the public won't allow them to play political games with the most important civil rights law in our nation's history.

Sign today: http://www.commoncause.org/VRApetition

Tags: Voting Rights Act, petition, Congress (all tags)

Tell Congress to renew the Voting Rights Act! :: 19 Comments

voting rights

I will not sign your petition because I strongly believe ballots should be available in English only. To be an informed voter it is first necessary to be literate in the language of the country. It is a no brainer!!

by selma on Fri Jun 30, 2006 at 02:30:22 PM EST

voting rights

I won't sign your petition either!!

by OldPuebloKid on Sun Jul 02, 2006 at 02:34:45 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Voting Rights

I agree with Selma, we live in a country that is a English speaking country, that is the language we should ALL speak and read. NO OTHER......

by sadietu on Fri Jun 30, 2006 at 03:19:01 PM EST

Voting Rights

I respectfully disagree. While English is by far the most commonly spoken language in the U.S., we have no "official" language. Section 203 of the Act, which provides for multilingual ballots in districts with very high levels of non-English speakers, does nothing to reduce English speakers or increase non-English speakers in this country. When a voting ballot can read like a complicated tax reform (just look at ballot confusion in the 2000 presidential election), we should do all that we can to fairly provide fellow citizens with a realistic opportunity to vote. That is, after all, the foundation of our democracy.

by Zach Proulx on Fri Jun 30, 2006 at 04:31:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Voting Rights

First of all, English was made the official language of the U.S. in May 2006.

Second, as someone who wasn't born in this country who speaks both Spanish and English and grew up in a house where both English and Spanish was commonly spoken, in predomidently Hispanic neighborhoods, I have seen the damage that attitudes like Zach's have done to the hispanic community. I would venture to guess Zach's "caringness" is more motivated by his membership in the Democratic Party than anything else, if the majority of non-English speaking peoples voted for Republicans, I bet he would be totally against having ballots in anything but the language of this country. Just look at the Democrats and African-americans nowadays. Since Hispanics have become the largest minority in this country, the Democrats hardly even make mention about blacks anymore and seem to careless about them. Liberal-Democrats will manipulate anyone to get their vote. The only way for Hispanics and other recent immigrants to this country to be successful is to learn English otherwise they can't learn for themselves and will continue to be manipulated by people like Zach and his liberal buddies.

by La Perla on Sun Jul 02, 2006 at 01:59:31 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Doing the right thing

As someone who cares about the people in my community I will not sign your politically motivated petition.

by La Perla on Sun Jul 02, 2006 at 02:04:11 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Doing the right thing

We (the Democrats) already completely control Hollywood and most of the news media, including the two most important newspapers in the land, the Washington Post and the newspaper-of-record the New York Times and with this Act, we will take our proper place in the Executive Mansion come next election. I am sick of Bush! With help from the League of Women voters, the N.A.A.C.P, A.C.L.U and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance and other Liberal groups this act will pass. Kirstin Ellison you make Democrats proud!!

by Demoforlife on Sun Jul 02, 2006 at 02:28:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Hmm...

Funny, because this petition is aimed at all Americans who are proud to defend and protect the right to vote for all citizens.

by Kirstin Ellison on Wed Jul 05, 2006 at 10:30:01 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Falsehoods

La Perla,

1) The United States has no "official" language. In its May immigration bill, the Senate voted to declare English the "national" language of our country, as opposed to the "official" language (there is a distinction). The House bill is different, and it remains unclear if the language provision will come out of House-Senate conference committee negotiations.

2) Without exception, your speculative characterization of me is entirely wrong.

by Zach Proulx on Mon Jul 03, 2006 at 12:17:04 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Falsehoods

Zach, you sound like a fine upstanding member of the Democratic Party. Good of you to stick it to that conservative Perla. This Act will pass if Democrats stick together;utilize our domination of the news media especially by making use of articles from the Washington Post and New York Times and; continue to imply that people against it are racist. Most of the members of Congress are afraid to go against this Act for fear of looking racist, we must capitalize on this and exploit it.

by Demoforlife on Mon Jul 03, 2006 at 11:40:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Wow

I'm hoping that you misstyped or that your words "NO OTHER" don't fully capture your opinion, because if you're advocating that people in this country only speak English and don't learn other languages, then I must adamantly disagree.

First of all, while we live in a country that is an English-speaking country, we also live in a country that speaks Spanish, Tagalog, Chinese, Thai, and any number of other languages. You cannot legitimately say that English is the only language spoken in this country, and you cannot legitimately expect that English will EVER be the only language spoken in this country, as long as we accept immigrants. Yes, anyone who comes to live in this country should make an effort to learn English, but they should hardly be expected to give up their native language in exchange.

If we ask that of them, then why in the world are we wasting time teaching foreign languages to schoolchildren? Diversity of culture has always been a hallmark of "Americanism," and I see no reason to try and end this tradition now.

by Kirstin Ellison on Wed Jul 05, 2006 at 10:27:12 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Kirstin Ellison's shameful propaganda

Shame on you Kirstin for promoting Common Cause's liberal agenda and hiding the fact that you yourself are a Democrat. When I see manipulation of the government by groups like Common Cause it disgusts me. SHAME ON YOU!!!!!!

by OldPuebloKid on Sun Jul 02, 2006 at 04:09:01 PM EST

Thanks for spelling my name correctly

You can call me (or Zach, or anyone else who disagrees with you) a Democrat all you want, but that doesn't make it anything more than speculation. You don't know how I vote, and you won't. What you do know is my position on issues of the public interest, and to me that transcends partisan lines. Issues like protecting the right to vote for the historically disenfranchised are things that everyone should be able to get behind -- Republicans, Independents, and yes, Democrats, included.

by Kirstin Ellison on Wed Jul 05, 2006 at 10:33:34 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Happy To Spell Your Name Right

Kirstin,

So your saying that my accusation is nothing more that "Speculation" and has no basis at all huh?? Well if we want to get technical about it, by definition your right, according to the a popular Online Dictionary "Speculation" means:to guess possible answers to a question when you do not have enough information to be certain. But lets look at some of the evidence:

1) You graduated from Dartmouth College, in New Hampshire, this is known as one of the most Left-Wing Colleges in the U.S.

2)You also interned at Public Campaign, another organization that claims to be "nonpartisan" but has a overwhelmingly Liberal staff including Micah L. Sifry, former associate editor of The Nation magazine. The political magazine that describes itself as "the flagship of the left." Also on the Public Campaign staff is Solange E. Bitol-Hansen
whose numerous actives include assisting the ACLU and helping Illegal Aliens.

3)Most of your articles lean-left including support for this Act which benefits Democrats.

4)You won't come clean about your political affiliation.

Although none of the aforementioned information guarantees your a member of the Democratic Party, I would say I am 99 percent sure your a Liberal and this is why your supporting a bill that will help Democrats. If your not a Liberal or Democrat tell me I am wrong, do not hide behind a veil of secrecy.

by OldPuebloKid on Wed Jul 05, 2006 at 06:29:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Does the debate have to be about the authors?

While I think any sort of participation on this blog is good, I do wish (and I know I'm not alone here) that the debate would focus more on the issues talked about at Common Blog, rather than the authors themselves. That said, I'm not one to let a challenge go unanswered, so I'll do what I can to change your mind about me.

1) Yes I went to Dartmouth, and loved every minute of it. Yes, liberals go to Dartmouth, but there are plenty of conservatives to counter them. For every famous "liberal" alum like Robert Reich (Class of 1968), there's a famous "conservative" like Paul Gigot '77, Dinesh D'Souza '83, or Laura Ingraham '86.

2) Yes, I interned at Public Campaign, for the same reason I interned at Common Cause back in the day -- because of my interest in campaign finance reform. Common Cause and Public Campaign are leading the fight on that issue, so if I wanted to learn more about campaign finance reform, where else would I go?

3) You call my support for the Voting Rights Act left-leaning. I call it in the public interest. The Voting Rights Act doesn't benefit Democrats, it benefits voters, which in turn benefits American democracy. The same goes for our other issues -- you may see them as benefitting one party, but here at Common Cause we see them as benefitting all Americans. I think this difference of opinion is at the heart of accusations of partisanship on this blog, and I hope we can reach some sort of accord.

4) I am very forthcoming about my political beliefs as they relate to Common Cause issues. My beliefs on non-Common Cause issues are not relevant to this blog, and I don't plan on abusing my author privileges to espouse them. As for clearly identifying my partisan aligment, you're right -- I won't. Why? One, because I believe that my vote is my business, and no one else's. I may choose to share with friends and family how I voted, but since I feel it is inappropriate to ask, I never answer. Two, I don't feel it would make a difference. If I say anything other than that I am a member of the Democratic Party and voted for John Kerry in 2004, I probably wouldn't be believed, and it wouldn't change your outlook on my writings anyway. I'll say this: I have voted for Democrats, Republicans, and third party candidates. I make a point to vote on the issues, not a party line.

The issues I write about on this blog are in the public interest, and I will defend the positions I take on their merits, not with partisan rancor. I welcome the opportunity to debate and discuss the issues, but there's no point in trying to prove (or disprove) a point with "it helps Democrats" or "it hurts Republicans." If the contributors to this blog (and I include both authors and commenters in this) are not willing to step over the partisan schism, then we'll be stuck in a circular debate that serves no purpose.

So what do you say? Truce?

by Kirstin Ellison on Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 11:32:51 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Enough about language -- voting is the issue

I can't believe this comment section has turned into an English-only debate. It shows how far this readership is from understanding the struggles that many Americans had to endure in order to secure the right to vote. I am sure none of the people posting about English only are aware that Native Americans had to wait until the 1970s before their right to vote was put into law.

Let's get back on topic.

The right to vote should be a constitutional amendment, not a law that needs renewing because it expires. If We the People are truly the government of this country, then our right to vote is sacrosanct. If Congress can entertain constitutional amendments about flag burning and single sex marriage, then it can certainly consider a basic democratic keystone such as voting worthy of a place in the constitution.

by nellie on Wed Jul 05, 2006 at 08:28:55 AM EST

Thanks for getting us back on track

Thanks, Nellie. That's been a problem with this whole Voting Rights Act debate -- too much focus has gone to the English-only crowd, and it's been distracting from the bigger picture. The Voting Rights Act was established to guarantee the voting rights of minority populations who have historically been disenfranchised; those protections are still needed, given the irregularities reported in recent elections, and that is why we need to renew the VRA.

by Kirstin Ellison on Wed Jul 05, 2006 at 10:37:03 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Essential

This act is essential and the debate focusing on English only ballots has continued to control the discourse relating to the renewal of the Voting Rights Act. There is still work that needs to be done regarding equal voting rights for all American citizens. Why aren't people talking about the long lines (sometimes for more than 5 hours, check out this USA Today Article )that people must wait in at traditionally underrepresented areas. There are plenty of pressing issues that need to be discussed, so how about we get to it. Congress needs to get moving and stop stalling

by Afua Osei on Thu Jul 06, 2006 at 11:03:34 AM EST

Continuing need for the Voting Rights Act

The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), just released a report on the critical and continuing need for voter language assistance under the Voting Rights Act. Basically, it reviews decades of VRA coverage,and finds that langauge assistance promotes voter turnout and representation, while violations of VRA language assistance illegally supresses minority voting.
It's online at:
http://www.aaldef.org/docs/AALDEF-VRAReauthorization-2006.pdf.

by slinaaldef on Wed Jul 12, 2006 at 01:10:57 PM EST

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Tell Congress to renew the Voting Rights Act!

By Kirstin EllisonPosted on Fri Jun 30, 2006 at 11:35:53 AM EST

By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Fri Jun 30, 2006 at 11:35:53 AM EST