Voting Rights Act Bailout to Get Second Public Meeting

The public will get at least one more opportunity to meet directly with election officials as the city of Fredericksburg applies to be exempted from certain oversight provisions of the federal Voting Rights Act. The Fredericksburg City Council approved a measure calling for the city Electoral Board to hold a second community information meeting on March 23 at 7 p.m. at the Central Rappahannock Regional Library on Caroline Street. The upcoming meeting will take the form of an informational workshop. 

Currently, the city of Fredericksburg is seeking what is described as a bailout from the pre-clearance provisions of the Voting Rights Act . Those provisions require the city to have the Department of Justice sign off on any changes to local voting procedures. The rules were put in place to counteract discriminatory voting procedures which often resulted in the dilution of the minority vote in localities across the south. 

Localities may be exempted from the pre-clearance requirements if they can demonstrate that they have not engaged in discriminatory election practices over the last 10 years. Localities must also show that there is no test in order to register to vote, nor have any federal examiners been assigned to observe the elections in that 10 year period and that any changes to local voting procedures have been filed with the government for pre-clearance on time and with no objections. 

Local governments also have to show that dilutive voting procedures have been eliminated and that there have been efforts to curb harassment and intimidation of voters. 

City officials pitch the pre-clearance bail out as an effort which would save money, increase the flexibility of the local elections office, and eliminate the stigma of prior discrimination. 

The city held a special community meeting to discuss the bailout process with the public. Approximately 30 people attended. The idea of establishing a citizens advisory committee to oversee the bailout process was discussed at this meeting, however the city staff advised against forming such a committee because of the burden it would subjected to in order to maintain compliance with freedom of information act laws.