Question

What protections do voters receive under the constitution

Answer 1

The Act, reaffirming the 15th Amendment, prohibits states from imposing any "voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure ... to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color." This act is supposed to protect citizens from arbitrary rules and regulations that may deter them or attempt to deter them for no other reason then to deter them. Such as the new voter ID laws in several states across the country, these are currently under scrutiny for deterring voters. A key element in this act, specifically intended by Congress was to outlaw the practice of requiring otherwise qualified voters to pass literacy tests in order to register to vote. This was a method that had been previously used to deter poor African Americans from voting. The Act also established extensive federal oversight of elections administration, providing that states with a history of discriminatory voting practices (so-called "covered jurisdictions") could not implement any change affecting voting without first obtaining the approval of the Department of Justice, a process known as preclearance. This is an issue that Florida is currently dealing with. The 15th Amendment to the Constitution granted African American men the right to vote by declaring that the "right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." However, for years the South would use "devices", of any kind, to circumvent the law and were successful in deterring 50% of the Black vote.