HISTORY OF VOTING RIGHTS

History of Voting Rights

History of Voting Rights

One of the two vital pieces of civil rights legislation of the 1960s, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, used the power of the federal government to preempt state resistance, particular in the South, to blacks exercising their right to vote and implement the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. With Congress passing extensions in 1972, 1975, and 1982 of the act, other minorities included under the protection of the federal government. Hispanic, Asian, and Native American citizens had protections added to prevent voting discrimination, as well. The 1982 amendments included ...