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Keeping The Promise: Establishing Nontransferable Election Systems In Jurisdictions Covered By Section Four Of The Voting Rights Act., Adam J. Cohen

St. Mary's Law Journal

Jurisdictions covered by the Voting Rights Act (VRA or the Act) need to impose multimember districting and non-transferable election systems. The VRA was enacted in 1965 to enforce the promise of the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution: the right to vote shall not be abridged on the basis of race. The Act requires any change in election procedures to be approved in advance so that states are not able to continuously disenfranchise voters based on race by simply changing election procedures. Either the District Court for the District of Columbia or the Attorney General of the United States …