To the editor:

With Election Day quickly approaching serious attention needs to be paid to the issue of racial discrimination in voting rights. In 1965, Congress enacted the Voting Rights Act (VRA) that set up several provisions in an attempt to create more equal voting opportunities for all races. However, in 2013 the Supreme Court ruled in the Shelby County v. Holder case, that section four was unconstitutional, essentially discrediting the entire act. States that had a history of systematic discrimination would no longer be accountable to report changes to their voting laws and are now free to institute unequal requirements.

Fortunately, Congress has proposed a replacement to section four, called the Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2014, that requires states that have had multiple voting rights violations over the last 15 years to receive approval for all voting modifications. I think instituting these new requirements is essential to our nation, especially in an election year. Although advocates of the Shelby ruling have argued the VRA has become outdated and unnecessary, racism is still very prominent across the country and we cannot allow it to interfere with our citizens’ right to vote.