Civil Rights Pioneer: America's Discriminatory Election Landscape Worst in 50 Years

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http://www.alternet.org/election-2014/civil-rights-pioneer-americas-discriminatory-election-landscape-worst-50-years




Today, and for the past several weeks during early voting, we have been witnessing the most unfair, confusing and discriminatory election landscape in almost 50 years. And it’s a disgrace to our citizens, to our nation, and to our standing in the world as a beacon of democracy. Moreover, it comes as no surprise—no surprise whatsoever.

This is the predictable outcome in the first major election since the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder last year, when a bare majority chose to gut critical pieces of the Voting Rights Act. This rendered inoperable the pre-clearance system [of the Justice Department approving or blocking changes in state laws] that had worked for half a century to protect voters from discrimination before it could take effect.

As Justice Ginsburg said in her dissent in Shelby, it made as much sense as throwing away your umbrella in a rain storm simply because you’re not getting wet. Well, the storm is now raging, with powerful microbursts that are denying to U.S. citizens their inalienable right to participate in our demcracy.

And it didn’t have to be this way. The Court invited Congress to update the Voting Rights Act and a bipartisan bill was introduced all the way back to January of this year, to ensure voters would be protected from discrimination when they went to the polls today. Sadly, Congress failed to act, with the House Republican leadership refusing to hold even a single hearing on one of the most fundamental rights in our country, the right to vote.