Angelides, California Leaders Call On Schwarzenegger To Support Voting Rights Act
Angelides, California Leaders Call On Schwarzenegger To Support Voting Rights Act
Officials Call Schwarzenegger's Silence on Key Civil Rights Law "Puzzling"
SACRAMENTO, CA - California State Treasurer and Democratic nominee for Governor Phil Angelides, Congresswoman Doris Matsui, Senator Deborah Ortiz, Assemblymember Mark Ridley-Thomas, Assemblymember Dario Frommer and United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO Co-Founder Dolores Huerta today urged Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to end his silence and support legislation that would renew the federal Voting Rights Act.
Currently under consideration in Congress, S. 2703 would renew the federal Voting Rights Act for 25 more years. While the act is widely praised by civil rights leaders for helping to open the electoral process to all Americans, Governor Schwarzenegger has failed to take a position on this critical matter.
"Your silence on this issue of such great concern to California voters is puzzling," Angelides and fellow leaders wrote in a letter to Schwarzenegger. "Your voice in support of this law, as the Republican governor of the nation's largest state would certainly have a strong positive effect on the decisions of a Republican president and Republican-controlled Congress."
In March of this year, the California State Legislature passed a resolution (Assembly Joint Resolution 37) requesting the President and Congress extend key provisions of the Voting Rights Act. Schwarzenegger failed to support the resolution.
A copy of the letter to Schwarzenegger is below.
July 19, 2006
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Dear Governor Schwarzenegger:
With deep conviction that the right to vote is the foundation of our democracy and fundamental to the survival of the United States as a free nation, we urge you to join us in support of the bill to renew the 1965 federal Voting Rights Act, S. 2703, without any amendments, extending this vital law - one of the most significant ever enacted by our nation - for 25 more years.
Your silence on this issue of such great concern to California voters is puzzling. Your voice in support of this law, as the Republican governor of the nation's largest state, would certainly have a strong positive effect on the decisions of a Republican president and Republican-controlled Congress.
This law - the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Park and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization - will ensure the renewal of critical protections that are at the core of eliminating barriers to full participation by all Americans in the political process. In March of this year, Treasurer Angelides voiced his support of California Assembly Joint Resolution 37 - sponsored by Assemblymember Ridley-Thomas - requesting the President and Congress to extend key provisions of the federal Voting Rights Act. We applaud the California Legislature for adopting this resolution.
In his letter of support for AJR 37, Treasurer Angelides told legislators that it is incomprehensible that anyone would question the effectiveness and relevance of any provision of the Voting Rights Act. From its inception, the impact of this Act has been dramatic as evidenced by the increase in voter registration by those groups most affected by efforts to weaken participation in the electoral process.
The U.S. House of Representatives, with Representative Matsui's leadership, reauthorized the Voting Rights Act last week. It is now up to the U.S. Senate to act. For a state with a population as diverse as California's, preservation of the Voting Rights Act - especially its provisions to prevent voter discrimination based on race or language proficiency - is vital to ensure fair elections and full participation of all eligible voters.
More than 300 languages other than English are spoken in California. Many of these people need language assistance to cast informed ballots. Section 203 of the act, which covers 28 of California's 58 counties, ensures that voter language assistance in those counties is available in Spanish, and seven of those counties are required to provide assistance in at least one Asian language. In all, nearly 1.5 million Californians directly benefit from this protection.
Section 5 of the Act, which requires regions of the country with persistent histories of discrimination to have their election plans approved by the U.S. Department of Justice, also continues to be an important protection for portions of California. It ensures that all significant communities of interest in the state have the opportunity to cast votes that truly count.
We would like to believe that the Voting Rights Act had achieved its purpose and was no longer necessary. But the reality is that far too many voters and communities of interest in California and in the nation remain vulnerable to discriminatory practices. The Act's protections are as relevant and significant today as they were in 1965. We believe that renewal of the Voting Rights Act without any amendments is critical to the preservation of political participation and enfranchisement for all the voters of California and the nation.
Sincerely,
Phil Angelides
California State Treasurer Doris Matsui
Member of Congress
Deborah Ortiz
State Senator Dario Frommer
Assembly Majority Leader
Mark Ridley-Thomas
Assemblymember Dolores Huerta
Co-Found, United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO
http://www.angelides.com/news/pressreleases/0719_votingrights.html