Amnesty International encourages the United States Senate to pass the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006 , S. 2703/ H.R. 9.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was enacted to insure that no federal, state or local government may in any way impede people from registering to vote or voting because of their or ethnicity. Amnesty International maintains that all states must take "effective measures" to protect the ability of all persons to exercise the right to vote on equal grounds and where registration of voters is required, "obstacles to such registration should not be imposed."

Amnesty International is concerned that hearings held by several civil rights organizations in 2005 and 2006 concluded that a new generation of tactics, including some at-large elections, annexations, last-minute changes in polling places and disenfranchising redistricting practices are having a discriminatory impact on voters, especially racial and ethnic minority voters. S. 2703/ H.R. 9 reauthorizes the portions of the Voting Rights Act that will expire next year, restoring the Act's original intent and allowing the federal government to address these new challenges.

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Contact: Gwen Fitzgerald, (202) 544-0200 x 302

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