Reply #24: AP: 1965 Voting Rights Provisions to Expire

[EFerrari]

1965 Voting Rights Provisions to Expire

By MARCUS FRANKLIN, Associated Press Writer

Friday, March 31, 2006


(03-31) 03:59 PST NEW YORK, (AP) --

On what would become known as "Bloody Sunday," voting rights marchers in March 1965 reached the highest point on the Edmund Pettus Bridge near Selma, Ala., and saw a blue sea of uniforms awaiting them at the end of the bridge.

Television would show images of Alabama state troopers armed with guns, night sticks, bull whips and tear gas severely beating marchers. Days later, President Lyndon Johnson promised to bring Congress an effective voting rights bill, and that August he signed into law the Voting Rights Act of 1965, considered one of the most significant laws in the nation's history.

Now, more than four decades later, sections of the act are set to expire. The looming expiration date — Aug. 6, 2007 — has ignited debate over the provisions' effectiveness and relevance, and over whether they should be extended.

It also has generated rumors, mostly on the Internet, that black Americans will lose the right to vote en masse next year. The rumors have prompted officials at the U.S. Justice Department to post a notice on their Web site.


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/03/31/national/a035924S56.DTL&hw=voting&sn=002&sc=560