The Voting Rights Act of 1965: The First Foundation of Today’s Minority Politics

Political Science 61/ Chicano/Latino Studies

64October 2, 2007

Welcome Second TA Chris Stout

Office Hours: Tuesday 11-1 SST 734 Email: cstout@uci.edu

Joining – Kimberly Shella Email: kshella@uci.edu Office Hours: Wednesday 2-3; Thursday

2-3 Office: SST 730

First Part of ClassWe begin the class by analyzing the legal foundations of contemporary minority politics

1. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (Amended 1970, 1975, 1982, 1992, and 2006)

2. Immigration and Naturalization Amendments of 1965 (Thursday)

3. The emergence of and statutory recognition of pan-ethnicity among contemporary immigrants, e.g. Latinos and Asian Americans (next Tuesday)

“What’s import for students to realize is that this is not ancient history, people still alive were involved in this, and that we still have a long way to go.”

 Stephen A. SchwernerNew York Times, January 8, 2005

Black (and Other Minority) Voting Before

the VRA Intimidation and exclusion

Excerpt from Taylor Branch—Parting the Waters Threats Intimidation Violence “Devices”

Consequence: Pre-1965 Black turnout very low

Manipulation Machines and minority voters Latinos voted, but not freely

Voting: From State Control to Federal

Oversight Constitution: States regulate voting “The right of citizens of the United States to

vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude”

– 15th Amendment to the Constitution

States regulated voting with no federal oversight until 1965

Today, most regulation remains at state and local level (remember the 2000 election), but limited federal oversight

Provisions of the VRA Prohibition of literacy tests Federal supervision of registration/voting Federal monitors could register voters Pre-clearance or rule/districting changes Judicial oversight transferred to federal court

for the D.C. circuit Prohibition on “devices” to dilute Black votes

Not part of VRA – 24th Amendment to the Constitution (1964) eliminates poll tax

How Did it Pass? Increasing Black activism, particularly

youth activism Increasing violence against Blacks in

Southern states Lyndon Johnson and the “Kennedy

Legacy” Originally applied quite narrowly

Five years Only applied to Southern states

Non-Black Minorities and Expanded Focus (1975-82)

VRA extended in 1975 to “language minorities” Not to all immigrant-ethnic populations

VRA extended in 1982 to require drawing of “majority-minority” districts, when possible

Electoral politics became the primary focus of minority community leaders

Long Term Impact of the VRA

African American vote increased dramatically

Descriptive representation up considerably

New immigrants from covered groups immediately protected

Foundation of white partisan shift and national Republican dominance after 1968

Focus for the Near Future

Congress renewed VRA (over relatively little debate) in 2006

Not clear that the Courts will continue to hold that the imposition on states’ Constitutional authority over voting in Constitutional Change in the composition of the Supreme

Court Advocates of minority voting see need

for expansion of VRA

In Sum VRA federalizes regulation of voting; It targets oversight for Black, Latino,

Asian, and Native American voting; It links the interests of these groups;

and It shifts the focus of racial and ethnic

politics to electoral politics

Questions for Next Time

The current U.S. immigration law favors immigrants with certain characteristics. What are those characteristics?

What are the major demographic changes that have resulted from the 1965 immigration law?