The issue of "voter protection" looms large in the Presidential and Congressional elections of 2012.
Several states have been working on their own voter protection laws --- including Pennsylvania, Arizona, Oregon, Iowa, New Jersey, and Oklahoma, etc. --- seeking to deal with the increasing problem in the United States of voter intimidation and voter suppression.
Voter disenfranchisement has been a major problem in America during our entire history, but the major law designed to provide voter protection in the last forty-plus years has been the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which is enforced primarily by the Civil Rights Division (Voting Section) of U.S. Department of Justice.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. §§ 1973) is the landmark national legislation in the U.S. that outlawed the rampaging (especially in the South) discriminatory voting practices that had contributed monstrously to the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the U.S.
Citizens are encouraged to be aware and vigilant about any activities by anyone that appear to intimidate and/or suppress voters from voting. This matter is critically important.
Complaints, concerns or questions concerning a voting matter or problem may be addressed to:
Chief, Voting Section
Civil Rights Division
Room 7254-NWB
1-800-253-3931
[www.justice.gov/crt/vot/intro/ The Voting Rights Act of 1965; Delaying the Dream: Southern Senators and the Fight Against Civil Rights, 1938-1965, by Keith M. Finley (2008), Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press; "Race, Region, and Vote Choice in the 2008 Election: Implications for the Future of the Voting Rights Act", Harvard Law Review 123(6): 1385-1436, by Stephen Ansolabehere, National Persily and Charles Stewart III (2010)]
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