The Voting Rights Act (VRA) is one of the most significant pieces of legislation in our nation’s history. It cleared the way for Black, brown, Asian American, and Native Voters to vote free from discrimination and established several protective provisions that were originally set to expire in 1970.
Yet, as voting discrimination continued, the government recognized the necessity of extending its once-temporary provisions. Ten years after the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the law was reauthorized for both the purposes of extension and a new provision ending literacy tests.
