Voting Rights Act of 1965 facts for kids

United States President Lyndon B. Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and Rosa Parks at the signing of the Voting Rights Act on August 6, 1965

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a major law in the United States that was created to stop unfair practices that prevented people, especially African Americans and other minority groups, from voting. It aimed to make sure that the right to vote, which is promised in the U.S. Constitution, was protected for everyone, no matter their race or background.

It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on August 6, 1965, during a time when many people were working hard for civil rights in America.

Before this law, even though the Constitution said people couldn't be stopped from voting based on race, many states and local areas, especially in the South, used tricky rules and practices to make it very hard or impossible for African Americans and other minorities to register and vote. The Voting Rights Act was created to put a stop to these unfair practices and truly enforce the right to vote for all citizens.

The U.S. Department of Justice has called it one of the most effective civil rights laws ever passed in the country. It significantly changed the relationship between the federal government and state governments when it came to voting rules.

Why Was the Act Needed?
The Push for a Stronger Law
What the Voting Rights Act of 1965 Does: Key Parts
How the Act Changed Over Time
Recent Challenges
Impact
Images for kids
See also

Why Was the Act Needed?

To understand why the Voting Rights Act was so important, we need to look at the history of voting rights in the U.S.

When the United States was first formed, states had a lot of power to decide who could vote. Often, only white men who owned property were allowed. After the Civil War (which ended in 1865), three important changes were made to the Constitution:

The 13th Amendment (1865) ended slavery.
The 14th Amendment (1868) said that everyone born in the U.S. is a citizen and should be treated equally under the law.
The 15th Amendment (1870) said that the right to vote could not be denied based on race, color, or if someone had been a slave before.

Even with these amendments, many states, especially in the South, found ways around the rules. After a period called Reconstruction ended in 1877, these states created "Jim Crow" laws and practices that made it very difficult for African Americans to vote. These included:

Literacy Tests: Voters had to read and understand complicated texts, but these tests were often given unfairly, with white voters getting easy questions or no test at all, while Black voters got very hard questions or were told they failed even if they answered correctly.
Poll Taxes: People had to pay a fee to vote, which many poor African Americans could not afford.
Grandfather Clauses: These rules said you could vote only if your grandfather had been able to vote, which excluded most African Americans whose grandfathers had been enslaved.
Intimidation and Violence: People who tried to register or vote sometimes faced threats, lost their jobs, or were even physically harmed.

Because of these unfair practices, very few African Americans were registered to vote in many parts of the country, meaning they had very little say in their government.

In the 1950s and early 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement grew stronger, pushing the government to protect voting rights. Laws were passed in 1957, 1960, and 1964 to try and help, but they weren't strong enough. It was hard for the government to prove in court that discrimination was happening, and even when a discriminatory practice was stopped, states would just come up with a new one.

The Push for a Stronger Law

Events in Selma, Alabama, in early 1965 played a big role in getting the Voting Rights Act passed. People in Selma, led by civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., organized peaceful protests and marches to demand their right to vote. They faced strong resistance and violence from local officials and others who opposed their efforts.

One famous event was "Bloody Sunday" on March 7, 1965. Peaceful marchers walking from Selma to Montgomery were attacked by state troopers and others on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The images of this violence were shown on television across the country and shocked many Americans. This event, and others like it, highlighted the serious problems people faced when trying to vote and created strong support for a new, powerful voting rights law.

President Johnson responded to these events by urging Congress to pass a strong voting rights bill.

What the Voting Rights Act of 1965 Does: Key Parts

The Voting Rights Act has several important parts designed to protect voting rights. Some parts apply everywhere in the country, while others historically applied only to certain areas with a history of discrimination.

Stopping Unfair Rules (Section 2): This is a very important part that applies nationwide. It says that no state or local government can have any voting rule or practice that results in people being denied or having their right to vote limited because of their race, color, or language group. This means rules can't be used in a way that makes it harder for minority groups to vote compared to others.
Banning Literacy Tests and Similar Devices: The Act immediately banned the use of literacy tests and other similar unfair tests in areas where they had been used to stop people from voting. Later, this ban was made permanent and applied across the entire country.
Help for Voters: The Act also says that if someone needs help to vote because they can't read English or have a disability, they can bring someone with them into the voting booth to help them.
Historical Special Rules (Preclearance - Section 5 and Coverage Formula - Section 4): These parts were designed to stop discrimination before it happened. The Coverage Formula identified states and local areas that had a history of using unfair voting practices and had low voter turnout. The Preclearance rule said that these "covered" areas had to get permission from the federal government (either the U.S. Attorney General or a federal court in Washington, D.C.) before they could make any changes to their voting rules or procedures. This was to make sure the changes wouldn't harm minority voters. The idea was to catch potentially discriminatory changes before they went into effect, instead of having to fight them in court afterward, which was slow and difficult.

How the Act Changed Over Time

The Voting Rights Act has been updated and changed several times by Congress since 1965 to make it stronger and address new challenges.

In 1975, the Act was updated to protect language minority groups, such as people of Hispanic, Asian American, Native American, and Native Alaskan heritage. This included requiring election materials, like ballots and instructions, to be provided in languages other than English in certain areas.

In 1982, Congress made it clearer that Section 2 could be used to challenge voting practices that had a discriminatory effect, even if it was hard to prove that the practice was created with the purpose of discriminating. This made it easier to fight practices that diluted the voting power of minority groups, like how election districts were drawn.

The special provisions like preclearance were originally temporary, but Congress extended them several times because discrimination in voting still existed.

Recent Challenges

In recent years, some parts of the Voting Rights Act have faced challenges in court.

Shelby County v. Holder (2013): In this case, the Supreme Court decided that the formula used to determine which areas were "covered" by the preclearance rule (Section 4(b)) was outdated and unconstitutional. The Court said that the formula was based on information from the 1960s and 1970s and didn't reflect current conditions. While the Court did not strike down the preclearance rule itself (Section 5), without the coverage formula, the federal government could no longer use preclearance to stop voting changes in the areas that were previously covered. This decision significantly weakened the Act's ability to prevent potentially discriminatory voting changes before they happen.

Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee (2021): This Supreme Court case looked at Section 2 of the Act. The Court provided guidance on how to evaluate whether a voting rule unfairly affects minority voters, introducing factors that courts should consider. Some people believe this ruling made it harder to challenge certain voting rules under Section 2.

As of 2025, there are ongoing discussions and efforts in Congress to potentially update the Voting Rights Act, including trying to create a new formula for determining which areas might need extra federal oversight to protect voting rights.

Impact

Despite the recent challenges, the Voting Rights Act has had a huge positive impact on American democracy.

Increased Voter Registration and Turnout: Immediately after the Act was passed, voter registration and turnout among African Americans in the South increased dramatically. Federal examiners helped register hundreds of thousands of new voters.
More Minority Elected Officials: As more minority citizens were able to vote, more minority candidates were elected to local, state, and federal offices. This meant that governments became more representative of the people they served.
Addressing Vote Dilution: The Act has been used to challenge practices like drawing unfair election district lines (gerrymandering) or using certain types of elections that can reduce the voting power of minority groups.
Positive Changes in Communities: Research suggests that the Act led to positive changes in areas with higher minority populations, such as increased spending on public services like education.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark law that has been crucial in the ongoing effort to ensure that voting rights are protected for all Americans. While it has faced challenges and continues to be debated, its original purpose – to eliminate discrimination in voting – remains a vital part of the fight for a fair and equal democracy.

Images for kids

United States President George W. Bush signs amendments to the Act in July 2006
The first page of the Voting Rights Act of 1965
States and counties encompassed by the Act's coverage formula in January 2008 (excluding bailed-out jurisdictions). Several counties subsequently bailed out, but the majority of the map accurately depicts covered jurisdictions before the Supreme Court's decision in Shelby County v. Holder (2013), which declared the coverage formula unconstitutional.
Final page of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, signed by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson, President of the Senate Hubert Humphrey, and Speaker of the House John McCormack