Voting Rights Resources
 These resources were gathered to commemorate the anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, which became law on July 25-26, 1965. The Act abolished "tests" of literacy, knowledge, and character designed to prevent African-Americans from exercising their right to vote. It also authorized the appointment of federal voting examiners and banned discriminatory poll taxes.
The Act was renewed by Congress in 1975, 1984, 1991, and most recently on July 20, when the United States Senate passed the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006. The 98-0 vote in the Senate and subsequent 390-33 vote in the House represented the largest margin of support in the history of the Act.
Lesson Plans, Activities, Current Events, & Quizzes
C-Span
This site provides classroom quizzes, lessons, activities, and statistics to help teach high school students about national elections in a nonpartisan manner.
www.c-span.org/classroom/govt/campaigns.asp
CivilRights.org
This site provides current reporting on the Voting Rights Act, including information on the 2007 Reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act and a general FAQ on the Voting Rights Act.
http://www.civilrights.org/issues/voting
The History Channel
This study guide for teachers of junior high and high school students provides discussion questions and activities for the History Channel’s documentary "Crossing the Bridge," which focuses on the 15th Amendment, disenfranchisement, literacy tests, segregation, and suffrage. Materials based on the national history standards.
www.historychannel.com/classroom/admin/ study_guide/archives/thc_guide.0531.html
Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library
Teachers of junior high and high school students will find unique classroom materials and activities in the LBJ Library. For example, the audio gallery includes a three-minute audiotape of a January 1965 conversation on voting rights held between President Lyndon B. Johnson and Dr. Martin Luther King.
www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/lbjforkids/selma-mont.shtm
Public Broadcasting Service
PBS's NOW for Educators features lesson plans, teaching guides, and other classroom tools on voting as well as background pieces on the topic.
Renew the VRA
Read stories of how the VRA has transformed the nation, find out which states are affected by the reauthorization, and why you should care about the VRA.
http://www.renewthevra.org/
Stanford University
This site provides the written thoughts of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from his autobiography. It includes a time line of events in February and March 1965 and his speech in Montgomery, at the height of the historic Selma to Montgomery March.
www.stanford.edu/group/King/publications/ autobiography/chp_26.htm
United States National Archives
This site provides links to pre-K-12 teaching guides and lesson plans on elections. Lessons include teaching the importance of voting, how the United States president is elected, and the United States Constitution Bill of Rights.
www.archives.gov/federal_register/electoral_college/teach.html.
Materials to Promote Voter Registration & Voting
American Civil Liberties Union
This site includes information on Voter Empowerment Cards, which are designed to inform voters of their rights and responsibilities on Election Day, to avoid problems when casting a ballot.
www.aclu.org/VotingRights
The League of Women Voters
This Web site promotes voter education, voting reform (including the Help America Vote Act), and voter registration tools.
www.lwv.org/join/elections
My Polling Place
When you type in your home address at this Web site, it will quickly tell you if you are registered to vote and which polling place you should go to vote. This service is available before national elections.
www.mypollingplace.com
People for the American Way
On its Civic Participation Web page, this site provides information on electoral resources and reform, promoting the vote, and exercising the right to vote, as well as links to contact federal, state, or local officials.
www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=114
Rock the Vote
This site calls for political power for young people. Readers select their state and then read the voting requirements in their state, view official Web pages of the secretary of state, and read answers to basic questions on voting in their state.
www.rockthevote.org
Background Information: Reports on Voting Rights and Modern Reform Measures
American Civil Liberties Union
The Web page features various reports on litigation by the Voting Rights Project; on voting rights abuses in Florida, Minnesota, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Virginia; and on reform measures.
www.aclu.org/VotingRights
Ballot Initiative Strategy Center
Over 57 ballot measures spanning 34 states during the November 2004 election are summarized in a publication entitled "Ballot Initiative & Referendum: 2004 Election Preview."
www.ballot.org
Filmmakers Richard Perez, Juan Sekler, Robert Greenwald, Earl Katz, and Amy Sommer
A one-hour video documents election irregularities in Florida during the 2000 presidential election. Examples include attempts to purge voter registration rolls of many Black voters and accuse some, such as a widely known local minister, an attorney, and others with no criminal records, of being felons.
www.unprecedented.org
Letter from NEA to the Secretary of State/Chief Election Officer
A letter from NEA to every Secretary of State calling for a verifiable paper trail for electronic voting machines.
www.nea.org/lac/votingrights/0706ltr.html
Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
This site features A Voting Rights Information Resource Kit, including critiques of policies for voter identification and proof of citizenship and voting aids for English Language Learning communities.
www.maldef.org
National Asian/Pacific American Legal Consortium
This nonprofit organization monitors voting rights in communities with high concentrations of Asian and Pacific Islanders and reports on reforms such as bilingual voting assistance required for language minorities to stem voting rights abuses.
www.napalc.org/?id=49
People for the American WayOn its Civic Participation Web page, this site provides information on electoral resources and reform, promoting the vote, and exercising the right to vote, as well as links to contact federal, state, or local officials.
www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=114
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
This coalition of over 200 national civil rights and labor groups -- including NEA -- offers special reports on historic and current changes to the Voting Rights Act. A special report includes recommendations such as new security measures to ensure that all votes cast are counted.
www.civilrights.org/issues/voting
The Sentencing Project
Advocating for criminal justice, the Project offers online briefing sheets, policy reports, research, litigation reports, and legislative materials -- including measures on voting rights.
www.sentencingproject.org/pubs_05.cfm#l
Background Information: Voting Rights Act
Government Printing Office
This page from the U.S. Code features an index to the elective franchise.
www.access.gpo.gov/uscode/title42/chapter20_.html
United States Department of Justice
The Web site of the Justice Department, whose responsibility it is to enforce the Voting Rights Act, features summaries of federal voting rights statutes and the Department's pending litigation on voting rights.
www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting
United States Census Bureau
The Bureau, with its responsibility to identify states and locales covered under Voting Rights Act provisions for pre-clearance, federal examiners and observers, and bilingual assistance, has a Web page that features voting and registration data and links to listings of covered states and locales.
www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/voting.html
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