Renew Voting Rights Act now

IF PRESIDENT Bush desires to secure his legacy as a promoter of democracy, he should begin with work at home by extending and amending the Voting Rights Act. Nearly 40 years old, the Voting Rights Act is scheduled to expire in 2007. If it is not renewed, millions of citizens will lose special protections against racially exclusionary election practices and discrimination toward linguistic minorities and the disabled.

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Implemented at the height of the civil rights movement, the Voting Rights Act was designed to protect the right to vote as articulated by the 15th Amendment to the US Constitution, and it reflects the intent of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, and 1964.

With the US Congress, President Bush can extend the life of the Voting Rights Act and focus on election protections, universal franchise rights for youth, and a federalized voting process that is accessible and fair.

Bush should consider the following to extend and amend the act: First, renew the act in its entirety for another 25 years. In doing so, attention should be directed at protecting rights in voting districts historically identified as having high levels of voter disenfranchisement.

When the Voting Rights Act was first signed into law in 1965, these troublesome districts were located primarily in Southern states where poll taxes, literacy tests, and voter intimidation were the means used to enforce race-based apartheid.

However, the presidential elections in 2000 and 2004 revealed that electoral injustice is not geographically centered. To be sure, the methods of suppressing voter turnout are prevalent, especially in large urban centers and among language minorities, the elderly, and the disabled.

Second, amend the act to nationalize all presidential elections, including presidential primaries. This standard would require the federal government to oversee the election process and impose one set of voting parameters for all 50 states and territories.

Currently, each state retains the sovereign prerogative to organize and implement election procedures to elect the president. The result has been the establishment of arbitrary and capricious election methodologies across the nation. Clearly, these states' rights privileges should be ended. To do so would vastly simplify the presidential election process and provide greater election protections.

Third, ease the voter registration process by implementing automatic and universal franchise privileges for qualified youth graduating from high school. Voting should be a right in a democracy. Therefore, universal registration should be our goal. As such, each eligible student graduating from private or public schools across the nation should automatically be registered to vote as a rite of passage into citizenship. With this policy, voter registration in America would rise well above 70 percent in less than 10 years, preparing millions for the most sacred civic ritual: voting.

Fourth, dramatically reduce the durational residency voter registration requirement during presidential elections, which would allow up to 15 million citizens to register and vote on election day every four years.

When President Nixon renewed the Voting Rights Act in 1970, he duly authorized the reduction of these onerous registration wait periods. In the spirit of advancing democracy, President Bush can likewise promote this reform, giving more Americans, especially minorities and the poor, greater suffrage advantages.

March marks the 40th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, a tragic occasion where civic rights protesters in Selma, Ala., were beaten as they sought to gain the right to vote for African-Americans. In recognition of their courage, we can advance new measures to build upon the cause of democracy.

As we encourage democracy in such places as Iraq and Afghanistan, no legacy could be more poignant than to offer new democracy solutions as a remedy to civic barriers extant at home.

President Bush, known for bold initiatives, is confronted with an opportunity to enlarge our democratic possibilities in an age when our civic rights seem compromised. He can begin to ensure his legacy as a dynamic democratic leader by renewing the Voting Rights Act and extending the length of our collective democratic enterprise.

Kevin C. Peterson, a senior fellow at the Center for Collaborative Leadership at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, is founder and director of New Democracy Coalition, based in Boston.