Yesterday the Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Property Rights held hearings on the extension of the Voting Rights Act. David T. Canon, author of Race, Redistricting, and Representation: The Unintended Consequences of Black Majority Districts testified at the hearing. Based on empirical evidence from his studies of Congressional elections, Canon concludes that the Voting Rights Act "should be renewed and strengthened."
Another author, Richard M. Valelly, wrote a piece for our website in which he argued from a historical perspective for the strengthening of the Voting Rights Act. Valelly is the author of The Two Reconstructions: The Struggle for Black Enfranchisement.
If not renewed, the VRA expires in August 2007. Unexpectedly, the House leadership has postponed consideration of renewal.