Title
To commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and to recognize the League of Women Voters of Metropolitan Columbus for their efforts to educate and encourage citizens to actively participate in government issues of public interest
Body
WHEREAS, The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed into law by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson on August 5, 1965; and
WHEREAS, The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibits states from imposing any voting qualifications or prerequisites to voting, nor to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color; and
WHEREAS, The Act banned the use of literacy tests, authorized the United States Attorney General to investigate the use of poll taxes in state and local elections, as well as enable the Department of Justice to protect the rights of citizens from voter discrimination by providing dominion over voter registration in areas where less than 50% of the minority population had not registered to vote; and
WHEREAS; the League of Women Voters of Metropolitan Columbus was founded in 1919, seven months before the Ohio League and ten months before the U.S. League. The Metropolitan Columbus League organized to serve the needs of newly enfranchised women; and
WHEREAS, Voter education has been at the heart of activity through the years, Columbus League members have devoted countless hours to the study of public issues; and
WHEREAS, In the 1960s, the League broadened its efforts for quality education and employment to include housing and other civil rights, and subsequently became involved in efforts to ensure peaceful implementation of a school desegregation remedy in Columbus; and
WHEREAS, Since its inception, the League of Women Voters of Metropolitan Columbus has been very active in promoting its goals and will continue to work diligently to increase the list of their accomplishments in the decades to come, Now therefore;
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUN...
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