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none are among those infamous for hanging chads and the like -- although many of those counties (Dade, Duval) should be included! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act#Jurisdictions_that_must_be_preclearedStates Alabama Alaska Arizona Georgia Louisiana Mississippi South Carolina Texas Virginia, except for Fairfax City, Virginia, Frederick County, and Shenandoah County. Counties California: Kings, Merced, Monterey, Yuba Florida: Collier, Hardee, Hendry, Hillsborough (Collier = Naples area, Hardee and Hendry are rural interior counties, Hillsborough = Tampa and vic.) New York: Bronx, Kings, New York (Kings Co. = Brooklyn, N.Y. Co. = Manhattan) North Carolina: Anson, Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Camden, Caswell, Chowan, Cleveland, Craven, Cumberland, Edgecombe, Franklin, Gaston, Gates, Granville, Greene, Guilford, Halifax, Harnett, Hertford, Hoke, Jackson, Lee, Lenoir, Martin, Nash, Northhampton, Onslow, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Person, Pitt, Robeson, Rockingham, Scotland, Union, Vance, Washington, Wayne, Wilson (that's 40 of N.C.'s 100 counties) South Dakota: Shannon, Todd. (they comprise the Pine Ridge Reservation) Towns Michigan: Clyde Township (Allegan County), Buena Vista Township New Hampshire: Rindge, Millsfield, Pinkham's Grant, Stewartstown, Stratford, Grafton County, Benton, Antrim, Boscawen, Newington, UnityWhat's with all those dinky towns in N.H.? If any of these jurisdictions wants out, the way to do it is NOT to scuttle the Voting Rights Act :grr: but to use its "bail out" provision: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act#Bail_OutThe term "bail out" refers to the process by which covered jurisdictions may seek exemption from Section 5 coverage. In order to bail out, a covered jurisdiction needs to obtain a declaratory judgment from the District Court for the District of Columbia.
Before August 1984, this process required covered jurisdictions to demonstrate that the voting test that they used immediately before coverage was not used in a discriminatory fashion. The 1982 amendment included two significant changes. First, Congress provided that where a state is covered in its entirety, individual counties in that state may separately bail out. Second, Congress completely redesigned the bailout standard. The post-1984 bailout standard requires that a covered jurisdiction demonstrate nondiscriminatory behavior during the 10 years prior to filing and while the action is pending and that it has taken affirmative steps to improve minority voting opportunities..So, bigots, quit whining and shape up your electoral process!
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