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Full-Text Articles in Civil Rights and Discrimination
“When Did African Americans Get The Right To Vote In Georgia?”, Marc T. Treadwell
“When Did African Americans Get The Right To Vote In Georgia?”, Marc T. Treadwell
Mercer Law Review
Most know that the post‑Civil War Fifteenth Amendment guaranteed citizens of all races, or at least male citizens of all races, the right to vote. But notwithstanding the keen interest today in voting rights and alleged voter suppression and that well-known Fifteenth Amendment, few know that for decades African Americans were banned outright from voting in primary elections that determined state and local leaders in many Southern states. In the post‑Reconstruction South, the Democratic Party controlled every facet of state politics and government. The Party’s whites‑only primary elections ineluctably determined the outcome of general elections. The party did not allow …
Racially Neutral In Form, Racially Discriminatory In Fact: The Implications For Voting Rights Of Giving Disproportionate Racial Impact The Constitutional Importance It Deserves, Gary J. Simson
Mercer Law Review
In two decisions in the mid-1970s, Washington v. Davis and Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp., the U.S. Supreme Court made clear that proving that a law racially neutral on its face disproportionately disadvantages racial minorities does not establish a violation of the Equal Protection Clause or even create a presumption that such a violation has occurred. Disproportionate racial impact “is not irrelevant,” the Court explained, but “it is not the sole touchstone of an invidious racial discrimination forbidden by the Constitution.” The key, according to the Court, lies in proving that the law was the …
Reasonable Restrictions On The Franchise: Georgia's Voter Identification Act Of 2006, Joseph M. Colwell
Reasonable Restrictions On The Franchise: Georgia's Voter Identification Act Of 2006, Joseph M. Colwell
Mercer Law Review
In Democratic Party of Georgia, Inc. v. Perdue, the Georgia Supreme Court declared constitutional the Voter Identification Act of 2006 (2006 Act), insofar as it required registered Georgia voters to present valid photo identification at the polls when voting in person in any Georgia election. The 2006 Act was the most recent amendment in a series of iterations of section 21-2-417 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (O.C.G.A.)-the provision of the Georgia code imposing certain polling requirements for in-person voting. Each version of the law has generated much controversy as to polling and voting requirements in Georgia, and …