Texas Racial Bias for Dummies

Cross-posted from Think Progress.

Houston Chronicle, 6/22/06:

The House abruptly dropped plans Wednesday to vote on a renewal of the Voting Rights Act, a seminal law from the civil rights era, after criticism from Republican lawmakers from Texas. …

“I don’t think we have racial bias in Texas anymore,” said Rep. John Carter (R-TX).

“It would be dumb to discriminate,” said Rep. Henry Bonilla (R-TX). “That is the last thing anyone is trying to do.”

Report by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, 6/26/06:

Texas leads the nation in several categories of voting discrimination, including recent Section 5 violations and Section 2 challenges. … Section 5 of the VRA, the preclearance requirement, was extended to Texas in 1975 due to the State’s history of excluding Mexican Americans from the political process. … Texas is home to the second largest Latino population in the U.S.

Unfortunately, Texas isn’t the only state with continuing discrimination against voters — help renew the VRA.