Democracy, elections, and voting at Democracy Chronicles

By Leah Dearborn

Is 1965 Voting Act controls on state voting law outdated or still a modern necessity? On February 27^th, 2013, the Supreme Court will hear the case of Shelby County V. Holder in a reexamination of Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. What is Section 5? The United States Department of Justice provides an overview on their webpage:

Section 5 freezes election practices or procedures in certain states until the new procedures have been subjected to review, either after an administrative review by the United States Attorney General, or after a lawsuit before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. This means that voting changes in covered jurisdictions may not be used until that review has been obtained.

Alabama, where Shelby County is located, is one of the states covered under the original Act. Since its passage, all affected jurisdictions have been required to prove that proposed changes do not suppress voters’ rights on the basis of race or ethnicity.

In 2006, Congress extended Section 5 for 25 more years. In a recent article by CBS42, Shelby County Attorney Frank Ellis is paraphrased saying that the County only wants legislators to “narrow the reach of sections 4B and 5 to those areas that have not adequately addressed the concerns outlined in the Act.”