OneWorld.net (U.S.)

NEW YORK, Jul 31 (OneWorld) - Setting aside their criticisms of Republican policies for a moment, leading rights advocacy groups say they fully appreciate President George W. Bush for refusing to bury a 41-year-old law that protects minorities' rights to vote.

"We applaud President Bush for signing into law this bill so vital to American democracy," said Caroline Fredrickson of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a New York-based influential group, which is otherwise locked in a series of legal battles with the Bush administration.

On Thursday, Bush endorsed a legislative bill seeking renewal of the 1965 Voting Rights Act for another 25 years, despite opposition from some ultraconservative Republican members of Congress who did not want to see the law passed in its entirety.

"This is a grand day of celebration and triumph for all Americans, not only minorities" said Wade Henderson, director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), in a statement welcoming the reauthorization of the Act by Bush.

The Voting Rights Act is considered a milestone in the history of U.S. democracy because it guarantees unrestricted access to polling booths for all citizens regardless of their racial or ethnic background.

Both the LCCR, a coalition comprising various groups, and ACLU were at the forefront of a nationwide campaign to force Bush and the Congress to extend the Voting Rights Act, which was otherwise due to partially expire in 2007.

Their campaign involved thousands of community leaders from across the country who held countless public meetings and workshops to create awareness among voters about the significance of the bill, which was created to prevent discriminatory electoral practices.

In addition to motivating 15,000 voters to make phone calls to their elected representatives in Washington, ACLU activists say they had gathered more than 100,000 petitions in favor of the Voting Rights Act.

The future of the Act had remained in doubt for weeks as some ultraconservative lawmakers tried hard to strike down certain aspects of the 41-year-old law. However, they failed to prevail because a majority of Republican lawmakers refused to reject the reauthorization of the Act.

"The bipartisan support underscores the recognition and importance of equality for all citizens' right to use the voting booth to elect officials who reflect their concerns," Henderson said.

The reauthorization bill was originally sponsored by James Sensenbrenner, a Republican lawmaker from Wisconsin, Democratic legislator from Michigan John Conyers Jr., and Democratic Representative Mel Watt of North Carolina.

With overwhelming approval from the Congress and now signed by Bush, the law on voting rights will remain valid for another 25 years, without any changes or amendments in its provisions.

Rights groups say they were particularly concerned about the future of some key aspects of the voting law, such as federal oversight of elections, mandatory language assistance for voters who lack proficiency in English, and placement of observers where minority voters are threatened with violence or intimidation.

During 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, minority voters in many states, especially Florida and Ohio, had made accusations that they faced intimidation and harassment at the hands of authorities while trying to exercise their right to vote.

Although significant progress has been made since the enacting of the Voting Rights Act, many believe that equal opportunity in voting remains absent for minorities in many parts of the country.

Last May as Congress held oversight hearings, it found a second generation of discrimination that serves to abridge or deny minorities their equal voting rights. The evidence pointed to certain electoral procedures as means of discrimination against minorities, such as annexation, polling place changes, lack of language assistance, and redistricting.

Though hopeful that reauthorization of this landmark law could prove a "one step closer" to clean voting, ACLU's Fredrickson says a lot more needs to be done to put an end to discriminatory practices.

"Passage of this bill does not mean we can rest," she says. "The Act must be followed by vigorous enforcement by the executive branch and the courts."

During public hearings in the Congress, the ACLU submitted a comprehensive report entitled, "The Case for Extending and Amending the Voting Rights Act: Voting Rights Litigation, 1982-2006." It documents 293 ACLU cases brought in 31 states to protect the rights to vote.