Beyond the Voting Rights Act: The Untold Story of the Struggle to Reform America's Voter Registration Laws PDF
Preview Beyond the Voting Rights Act: The Untold Story of the Struggle to Reform America's Voter Registration Laws
Gregory T. Moore Beyond the Voting Rights Act Democracy in Times of Upheaval Edited by Matt Qvortrup Volume 2 Gregory T. Moore Beyond the Voting Rights Act The Untold Story of the Struggle to Reform America’s Voter Registration Laws ISBN (Paperback) 978-3-11-074231-2 ISBN (Hardcover) 978-3-11-078273-8 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-074247-3 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-074256-5 ISSN 2701-147X e-ISSN 2701-1488 Library of Congress Control Number: 2022936625 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Cover image: iStock / Getty Images Plus Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck www.degruyter.com ThisbookisdedicatedtothememoryofBerniceMoore,LanieMoore,Sr.,Mari- lyn Moore Hardy, Lanie Moore, Jr., and my many other family and friends who have departed this earth and contributed to my spiritual, personal, and profes- sional development as avoting rights advocate. Acknowledgements Thecombinationoflegislativereformsandvotermobilizationsrecountedinthis bookwereundertakenbyawidespectrum ofadvocates,organizations,contrib- utors,andcoalitionsthataretoonumeroustonamehere.However,Iwouldlike tosincerelythankallthosepersonsandentitiesreferencedbelowfortheirlong- standingcontributionstothestruggleforvoterreformshighlightedinthisbook —and to the expansion of our democracyoverall. First and foremost, I want to acknowledge the arduous work and commit- ment of the “Motor Voter Coalition,” made up of over thirty organizations who worked for over 4 years to pass the landmark National Voter Registration Act of 1993, (NVRA).While the coalition received little notoriety, it was effective in plowing through years of partisan gridlock and resistance on Capitol Hill to passoneofthemostcomprehensivevoterreformbillsinUSHistory.Theoriginal membersoftheMotorVoterCoalitionincluded:TheLeagueofWomenVoters,the NAACP, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the NAACP Legal DefenseandEducationFund,theAmericanCivilLibertiesUniontheLawyersCom- mittee for Civil Rights Under Law, ACORN, Project Vote, Human Serve, People for the American Way, the Citizenship Education Fund and Rainbow/Push Coalition, the Center on Policy Alternatives, the AFL-CIO, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, the A. Phillip Randolph Institute, the National Urban League, the Mexican American LegalDefense and Education Fund, the United States Stu- dentAssociation,DisabledVeteransofAmerica,BlackVeteransofAmerica,Disa- bled-But Able to Vote, Rock the Vote, Common Cause, the US Public Interest Re- search Group, the Midwest and Southwest Voter Registration Projects, the Committee for the Study of the Electorate, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the American Jewish Committee, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the National Disabilities Rights Network, the Paralyzed Veterans of America, and the United Methodist Church-General Board of Church and Society. After NVRA’s passage,there were major institutions and organizationswho undertookresearchandanalysisoftheNVRA’simpactintheyearsafteritspas- sage.Within the federal government, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, and Department of Justice led the oversite and enforcement respectfully. Among the leading advocacy groups were DEMOS, the Advancement Project, Pew Charitable Trust, Project Vote, the Brennen Center for Justice at NYU, the ACLU, the NAACP LDF, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Democracy Fund and scores of foundations and advocacy organiza- tions.Without theirconstantmonitoringand fierceadvocacyofNVRA’sfull im- https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110742473-001 VIII Acknowledgements plementationandenforcement,thelaw’simpactwouldhavebeengreatlydimin- ished. Many prominent members of the civil rights, labor, faith-based and human rights community played a significant role behind the scenes to advance NVRA and the many voting rights crusades highlighted in this book. They include MotorVoterCo-chairsNAACPAttorneyEddieHailes and LeagueofWomenVot- ers, lobbyists Mary Brooks and Lloyd Leonard; Human Serve leaders Richard ClowardandFrancisFox-Piven,JoAnneChasnow,andHulbertJames;Disability Activists Jim Dixon and Justin Dart; Mort Halpern, Judy Goldberg-Crockett, and Laura Murphy Lee of the ACLU; Elaine Jones, Penda Hair, Lani Gunier, Ted Shaw, Judith Brown-Dianis NAACP-LDF, longtime NAACP Washington Bureau Chief Hillary Shelton, the Advancement Project’s the National Coalition on BlackCivicParticipation’sDirectorsGraciaHillman,Atty.SonyaJarvis,andMel- anieCampbell;MarshaAdlerandMelanneVerveerwithPeoplefortheAmerican Way;Wallace Williams,with Black Veterans of America,the Mexican American LegalDefenseFund’sSteveCarbo,DEMOSfounderandformerConnecticutSec- retary of State Miles Rappaport, National Urban League’s Bob McAlpine, and Ron Jackson; Patrick Lippert and Steve Barr with Rock the Vote; Mary Francis Berry,U.S.CommissiononCivilRights;RalphNeas,WadeHenderson,GeneKar- pinski,U.S. Public Interest Research Group, Nancy Zirkin, Bill Taylor and Ellen Buchmanwith the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. The NVRA could not have been enacted into law without key Congressper- sonsandcongressionalstaffers.TheyincludetheNVRAleadsponsors,Congress- man AlSwift’sstaffers KarlSandstorm,HerbStone;RulesCommitteeChairman Wendall Fordand lead counsel Jack Sousa; HouseJudiciary Committee’s Chair- manandNVRAco-sponsorCongressmanJohnConyers,Jr.;StaffDirectorsJulian Epstein, Perry Applebaum, and Committee Counselors Ron Stroman, Keenan Keller,Ted Kalo, and Stephanie Moore; House Leadership staff Lorraine Miller, Steve Chapman, and Cassandra Butts. Special recognition must be given to Re- publicanMembersofCongressandtheirstaffwhosupportedvoterreforminde- fiance of their party leadership: Representatives Bill Thomas and Jim Sense- nbrenner; and Senators Mark Hatfield, Jim Jeffords, and Dave Durenberger in the Senate. Finally,Iwanttopaytributetomanyofthefallenwarriorswhowerecham- pions of the NVRA and have left their indelible mark on our nation’s voting rights history.They include Althea Simmons, of the NAACP, Professor Richard Cloward, a pioneer of agency based voter registration; Attorney Frank Parker, Lawyer’sCommitteeforCivilRightsUnderLaw;RonBrown,thefirstBlackDem- ocratic National Committee Chairman; Patrick Lippert of Rock the Vote;Willie VelasquezandAntonioGonzalesoftheSouthwestVoterRegistrationProject;At- Acknowledgements IX torneysLaniGunierandCounselDirectorJuliusChamberswiththeNAACP-LDF; Curtis Gans with the Committee for the Study of the Electorate; and Equal Em- ployment Opportunity Commission Chairperson Jaqueline Berrien. In the US Congress, Representatives John Conyers,Jr. Al Swift, John Lewis, Bill Gray, Ste- phanie-Tubbs Jones; and Senators Wendall Ford, Mark Hatfield, and Paul Well- stone in the US Senate. And finally, a special thank you to the editors and production crew at De GruyterPublishing:MattQvortrupwhofirstinvitedmetobepartoftheDemoc- racy in Times of Upheaval series, Michaela Göbels, Gerhard Boomgaarden and Katharina Ehlgenwho guided this manuscript to its final edits and production. Thankyouforyourpatienceandyourcontinuedencouragementtobringthisde- cadeslongresearchandwritingprojecttofruition.SpecialthankstoShellyWil- seywholedmetotheILAinternationalconveningandMattQvortrup.Thanksto Jennifer Lawrence and copy editors at American Manuscript Editors; to Anitra Merritt and Dr. Denise Wright for the initial word processing and research of myearliermanuscriptdrafts.Thankstotheacademics,peerreviewers,research- ersandreaderswhocritiquedmultipleversionsofthemanuscriptincluding:led by my devoted wife and life partner Jean (JB) Moore who has been by my side during much of this journey, Dr. David Descutner, Gillian Berchowitz and Ri- chard Hurd of Ohio University Press; Professor James Steele, Medgar Evers Col- lege,(CUNY),Dr.KeithJennings,Atlanta-ClarkUniversity;Dr.CarlLevan,Amer- ican University, and Dr.Clarence Lusane, Howard University. Mysincere thanks toalltheaboveforyourcommitmenttoexpandingtherighttovoteandformak- ingthisbookpossible.MostimportantlyIwanttothankGodforallowingmeto beapartofandbearwitnesstoallofthehistoricalexperiencesdetailedinthis book.
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