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Lawyers'
Committee for Civil
Rights Under Law
1401 New York Avenue, NW
Suite 400
Washington, DC 20005
For
Immediate Release
Contact: Diane Gross
202-662-8600
April,
11, 2002
Lawyers' Committee Disappointed
with Final Reform Bill
Flawed
Bill Seen as Roll Back on Essential Voting Rights;
Looks to Conference to Fix Harmful Provisions
Washington
D.C. - The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under
Law ("Lawyers' Committee") expressed deep
dissatisfaction with the compromise election reform
bill (S.565) that the United States Senate passed
today. The original S.565 started out as a means to
solve the problems that plagued our nation in November
2000. However, in the end, the compromise bill, with
changes proposed by Senators Kit Bond (R-MO) and Mitch
McConnell (R-KY), will lead to discrimination and
will create new obstacles to voting. The Lawyers'
Committee strongly supports comprehensive election
reform, but opposes this compromise legislation because
of several harmful provisions in the bill which will
prevent enforcement of the bill, undermine existing
voting rights laws and adversely affect African American,
Latino and other minority voters. These damaging elements
must be removed in conference.
"We
are extremely troubled that the problematic parts
of the legislation were not resolved prior to its
passage on the floor," said Barbara R. Arnwine,
Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee.
"We must now call on the conferees, as they try
to reconcile the House and Senate bills, to do the
right thing and break down the barriers and end the
discrimination that the Senate compromise created.”
The
general election in November 2000 had widespread voting
irregularities and highlighted an ongoing problem
of unequal access to the ballot for millions of American.
Minorities were heavily impacted by this election
and were disproportionately excluded from participation
in the electoral process. The Lawyers'Committee wanted
to ensure any election reform legislation fixed the
problems of 2000 without compromising existing laws
or erecting new barriers to electoral participation
for those who have traditionally been disenfranchised
such as people of color, disabled persons, poor people
and the elderly. Unfortunately, several provisions
of the bill passed today by the Senate do exactly
that. It is because of these provisions that we have
been and continue to be not only dissatisfied with
the bill but opposed to it. These provisions include:
- A
Photo ID requirement that is clearly discriminatory,
has a disparate impact on minorities and may be
applied in a manner that is nonuniform, in violation
of the Voting Rights Act.
- A
"safe harbor"provision which allows states
to delay meeting vital minimum standards for 6 years
- five federal and two presidential elections from
now.
-
A provision which removes National Voter Registration
Act safeguards, including important voter registration
standards.
"A
photo identification is a means to disenfranchise
African-American, Latino and other voters who are
disproportionately less likely to have photo identification
that they can take to the polls,"Ms. Arnwine
commented. "While this bill set out to ensure
that all Americans have the opportunity to cast a
ballot and have that vote counted, it needed to do
so without creating new obstacles to voting or compromising
existing laws that protect the voting rights of all
Americans. We should not be enacting legislation that
is discriminatory and moves us back,"she added.
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