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How did the Voting Rights Act of 1965 protect racial minority voters?
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Race
Skin color is one of the variables that has been used to classify people into different racial categories.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was landmark legislation designed to dismantle the systemic legal barriers that had long prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote under the Fifteenth Amendment.12
The act protected racial minority voters through several key mechanisms:
- Banning Discriminatory Tests: The law suspended the use of literacy tests and other discriminatory devices that had been used to disproportionately disqualify Black citizens from registering to vote.23
- Federal Preclearance: Under Sections 4 and 5, jurisdictions with a history of voter discrimination were required to obtain federal approval, or "preclearance," before implementing any changes to their electoral laws or procedures. This ensured that new regulations would not have the purpose or effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race or color.34
- Federal Oversight: The act authorized federal supervision of voter registration in areas where discrimination had been prevalent, providing a necessary enforcement mechanism to make the Fifteenth Amendment finally enforceable.5
These measures led to a significant increase in voter registration among Black citizens and a corresponding rise in the number of African American elected officials.2