This summer marks the 60th Anniversary of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Tech History Professor Troy Smith said the legislation proved a game changer. The law prohibited states from changing voting laws without approval from the federal government. Smith said African American voter registration jumped to over 50 percent soon after.
“It led to more minority engagement in voting,” Smith said. “Which actually also helped lead to more minorities being elected into public office, which you didn’t see, or you hadn’t seen since reconstruction.”
Before the Act was passed, Smith said minority voters faced discriminatory practices like literacy tests in some states. Smith said the Act helped enforce the 15th Amendment, and ensure minority access to voting. Smith said many African Americans feared violence at the polls.
“They might be taking their life into their own hands by being seen voting,” Smith said. “And for another thing, some of the state rules that were set up to make [voting] difficult, made Black voters think the deck was stacked against them or their vote wouldn’t count. So why risk your safety for something that wasn’t going to work anyhow?”
Smith said Native Americans also faced discrimination at the polls in the western United States. Smith said although the Act targeted African Americans in the south, it also specifically protected Native Americans, Asian Americans, Alaskan natives, and people of Spanish heritage.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 has improved access and safety of elections, but Smith said the initial bill has seen some major changes since its inception 60 years ago.
“In 2013, the Supreme Court stripped away a lot of the teeth of this Act,” Smith said. “Particularly what’s called Section 5, and in 2021, they stripped away some more. Since those things have happened, states have again been instituting their own laws about voting.”
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on August 5th, 1965. African Americans were given the right to vote with the 15th Amendment in 1870.
