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The United States Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlawed requiring would-be voters to take literacy tests and provided for federal
registration of African American voters in areas that had less than
50% of eligible voters registered. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on August 6, 1965.
The VRA was made necessary by the practices of the Democratic
Party in the southern states. Although the right to vote is guaranteed by the Fifteenth Amendment, the Democratic Party argued that Primary
elections were an internal party affair, and that the party was a "private club", so that the government had no authority over
its criteria for membership and other factors relevant to participating in primary elections.
The campaign to bring about federal intervention to rectify this situation was initiated by Amelia Boynton Robinson, culminating in the Selma to Montgomery marches.
Related legislation
- 1957 PL 85-315 Civil Rights Act
- 1960 PL 86-449 Civil Rights Act
- 1964 PL 88-352 Civil Rights Act
- 1964 24th Amendment Poll tax outlawed
- 1965 PL 89-110 Voting Rights Act
- 1970 PL 91-285 Voting Rights Act Extension
- 1971 26th Amendment Voting
age reduced to 18 for all elections
- 1975 PL 94-73 Voting Rights Act Extension
- 1982 PL 97-205 Voting Rights Act Extension
- 1984 PL 98-435 Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act
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