In Monday’s Atlanta Journal Constitution, Georgia State Rep. Tyrone Brooks and Charles Steele wrote Safeguards Should Not be Eliminated. A snippet: “Discrimination in voting is still persistent in Georgia and the rest of the states covered under these provisions. Since the VRA was last renewed in 1982, Georgia has received 83 objections from the Department of Justice to changes in voting procedures — many within the past five years. This is the fourth highest number in the country. In addition, the Georgia Legislature has now twice passed the infamous Georgia photo ID law, which Department of Justice lawyers and a federal judge stated was likely to discriminate against black voters.”
U.S. Representative Lynn Westmoreland wrote Punitive Approach No Longer Needed (also available here). A snippet: “Renewing the law as it is would keep Georgia in the penalty box for 25 more years. It doesn’t make sense to subjugate Georgia to the whims of federal bureaucrats until 2031 based on the turnout of an election featuring Barry Goldwater and Lyndon Johnson…I’m proposing that Congress update the Voting Rights Act by reviewing states’ performance in 2004 elections. Without these changes, I feel sure the law will be thrown out by the courts because its criteria are now outdated, arbitrary and decidedly not ‘temporary.'”
Duross Fitzpatrick, a senior judge in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, wrote this letter to the editor (scroll down near the bottom), “Judge: Westmoreland Right on Voting Rights Act.”