Voting rights act
50th anniversary
2015
WHEREAS, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors recognizes 2015 as the 50TH ANNIVERSARY of the VOTING
RIGHTS ACT; and
WHERE, Sunday, August 10, 2015 marks the 50th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA). This
act made it illegal to utilize discriminatory voting practices by the federal, state and local governments. Prior to the VRA,
African Americans in the South and Latinos in the Southwest were violently denied the right to vote and were restricted
through literacy tests, grandfather clauses, and poll taxes. This act made those activities and other discriminatory methods
illegal; and
WHEREAS, during the summer of 1964 the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) launched Freedom
Summer whose cornerstone was voter registration. Approximately 17,000 black residents of Mississippi attempted to register
to vote, however, only 1,600 of the completed applications were accepted by the local registrar. Highlighting the need for
federal voting rights legislation, creating momentum for the Voting Rights Act of 1965; and
WHEREAS, in early 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., along with other civil rights activists including Ralph Abernathy and
Fred Shuttlesworth, launched the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) campaign based in Selma, Alabama to
pressure Congress to pass voting rights legislation. Soon thereafter on Sunday, March 7, 1965, hundreds of people including
Congressman John Lewis, were attacked by Alabama State Troopers in their attempt to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge as
they marched from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in their protest of racial discrimination in voting. The day, which came
to be known as “Bloody Sunday,” led Congress to enact the Voting Rights Act of 1965; and
WHEREAS, the Voting Rights Act provided federal oversight in facilitating registration and voting in areas of historically
low turnout throughout the country; and
WHEREAS, the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA) of 2001, strengthened minority voting rights and made it easier for
groups to sue governments that use at-large elections on the grounds that they dilute the strength of minority votes. The
California Voting Rights Act emphasized the continual need for activism to preserve the legacy of the rights provided under
the Voting Rights Act of 1965; and
WHEREAS, unfortunately in 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Shelby County v. Holder that the parts of the Voting
Rights Act of 1965 pertaining to preclearance were unconstitutional, which effectively halted the preclearance obligation for
jurisdictions with a history of discrimination.
THEREFORE, this Board of Supervisors, County of Alameda, State of California, does hereby recognize 2015 as the
50TH ANNIVERSARY of the VOTING RIGHTS ACT. It is with deep appreciation that we honor and promote the historic
achievements made through this historic act.
SCOTT HAGGERTY, PRESIDENT
SUPERVISOR, FIRST DISTRICT
WILMA CHAN, VICE-PRESIDENT
SUPERVISOR, THIRD DISTRICT
RICHARD VALLE
SUPERVISOR, SECOND DISTRICT
NATE MILEY
SUPERVISOR, FOURTH DISTRICT
KEITH CARSON
SUPERVISOR, FIFTH DISTRICT