City of Santa Ana
Community Alert: 50th Anniversary of Voting Rights Act
The City of Santa Ana, in partnership with the Orange County Voter Registrar’s Office and the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials, announces that August 6th marks the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, which was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a milestone in national legislation that prohibits discriminatory voting practices from disenfranchising African Americans and makes it illegal to require eligible voters to pass literacy tests in order to register to vote. Since its initial passage, the Act has expanded its reach with amendments that assist minorities in the voting process by providing language-specific election materials to jurisdictions with large numbers of minorities whose primary language is not English. Continue reading