WASHINGTON — The GOP’s struggle over its future and the party’s fitful steps to attract minorities are on full display in the differing responses of Republican governors to a major Supreme Court case on voting rights.
The court will hear arguments April 29 about whether federal oversight of election procedures should continue in 16 states, mainly in the South, with a history of preventing blacks, Hispanics and other minorities from voting.
In 2006, as Republicans sought to improve their standing with minorities in advance of congressional elections, the GOP-controlled Congress extended for 25 years the Voting Rights Act provision that says the Justice Department must approve any changes in how elections are conducted. Former President George W. Bush, a Republican, signed the extension into law.
But some Republicans said the extension was not merited and that some states were being punished for their racist past. A legal challenge has made its way to the high court.
GOP Govs. Sonny Perdue of Georgia and Bob Riley of Alabama have asserted in court filings that the continued obligation of their states to get advance approval for all changes involving elections is unnecessary and expensive in view of significant progress they have made to overcome blatant and often brutal discrimination against blacks.
Perdue pointed out that President Barack Obama did better in Georgia than did Democratic nominees John Kerry in 2004 and Al Gore in 2000.
"Congress’ insistence that Georgia has ‘a continuing legacy of racism’… is nonsensical when an AfricanAmerican candidate for president receives a greater percentage of the vote than his white predecessor candidates,” the governor said.
Other Republican governors in states covered by the advance approval provision of the Voting Rights Act are taking a different approach. They essentially are saying nothing about the case even as Democratic attorneys general in those states have said elimination of the provision "would undermine the progress that has been made under the Voting Rights Act.”
Emory University political science professor Merle Black said southern Republican politicians have every incentive to say nothing.
"If they come out against it, then their hope of getting any African-American votes in the future is even worse than it is now,” Black said. "If you don’t mention it, it’s the status quo, and they’ve been able to win with the status quo.”
by the associated press
The court will hear arguments April 29 about whether federal oversight of election procedures should continue in 16 states, mainly in the South, with a history of preventing blacks, Hispanics and other minorities from voting.
In 2006, as Republicans sought to improve their standing with minorities in advance of congressional elections, the GOP-controlled Congress extended for 25 years the Voting Rights Act provision that says the Justice Department must approve any changes in how elections are conducted. Former President George W. Bush, a Republican, signed the extension into law.
But some Republicans said the extension was not merited and that some states were being punished for their racist past. A legal challenge has made its way to the high court.
GOP Govs. Sonny Perdue of Georgia and Bob Riley of Alabama have asserted in court filings that the continued obligation of their states to get advance approval for all changes involving elections is unnecessary and expensive in view of significant progress they have made to overcome blatant and often brutal discrimination against blacks.
Perdue pointed out that President Barack Obama did better in Georgia than did Democratic nominees John Kerry in 2004 and Al Gore in 2000.
"Congress’ insistence that Georgia has ‘a continuing legacy of racism’… is nonsensical when an AfricanAmerican candidate for president receives a greater percentage of the vote than his white predecessor candidates,” the governor said.
Other Republican governors in states covered by the advance approval provision of the Voting Rights Act are taking a different approach. They essentially are saying nothing about the case even as Democratic attorneys general in those states have said elimination of the provision "would undermine the progress that has been made under the Voting Rights Act.”
Emory University political science professor Merle Black said southern Republican politicians have every incentive to say nothing.
"If they come out against it, then their hope of getting any African-American votes in the future is even worse than it is now,” Black said. "If you don’t mention it, it’s the status quo, and they’ve been able to win with the status quo.”
by the associated press
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