History and Impact of the Voting Rights Act
Enforcing The Fifteenth Amendment
The Voting Rights Act (VRA) was enacted under Congress’s authority to enforce the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, providing that the right of citizens to vote shall not be denied or abridged on account of race, color, or previous servitude. When transmitting a draft of the legislation to theHouse of Representatives, President Lyndon B. Johnson stated that the bill would “help rid the Nation of racial discrimination in every aspect of the electoral process and thereby ensure the right of all to vote.” Since it was first enacted in 1965, the VRA has evolved through a series of amendments…
