View of unidentified individuals voting at a fire station in Atlanta, Georgia, ca. 1978. | Boyd Lewis Photograph Collection, Kenan Research Center, Atlanta History Center | VIS 101.559.006
We’re proud to be a community resource on Election Day and beyond, providing Atlantans with the tools to make history.
From Black women’s struggle for suffrage to Atlanta’s winning of the bid to host the 1996 Olympic Games, there’s much to learn about what it means to be an active and engaged member of the community.
In that spirit, we’ve created a guide to help Georgians prepare to exercise their right to vote, select the method by which they vote, and to identify and report instances of voter intimidation. If you’d like to learn more about registering to vote, Georgia’s Voter ID Laws, how to volunteer as a paid poll worker, check out our National Voter Registration Day resource guide.
A Brief History
As John Lewis reminded us, “the vote is sacred.” Over the years activists like Lewis advocated for an end to voter discrimination—and often faced violent opposition. Since the first Civil Rights Act of 1870, our nation has evolved towards protecting Americans’ right to vote and lower the barrier of entry to exercise that right. Here’s an overview of each federal voting rights legislation and its implications on the electorate.
- The Civil Rights Acts created some of the earliest federal protections against discrimination in voting. These protections were first outlined by the Civil Rights Act of 1870 and were later amended by the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, and 1964. The original Civil Rights Act provided criminal penalties for those attempting to prevent African Americans from voting by using or threatening to use violence or engaging in other tactics, such as making threats to terminate a person’s employment or evict them from their home. As a result of the act, the criminal jurisdiction of the federal courts was expanded.
- The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibited voter discrimination based on race, color, or membership in a language minority group. It also required certain places to provide election materials in languages besides English.
- The Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act of 1984 required polling places to be accessible to people with disabilities.
- The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) of 1986 allowed members of the U.S. armed forces and overseas U.S. voters to register and vote by mail.
- The Military and Overseas Voting Empowerment (MOVE) Act of 2009 improved access to voting by military and overseas voters. (via USA.gov)
