Table Of ContentGregory T. Moore
Beyond the Voting Rights Act
Democracy in Times
of Upheaval
Edited by
Matt Qvortrup
Volume 2
Gregory T. Moore
Beyond the
Voting Rights Act
The Untold Story of the Struggle to Reform America’s
Voter Registration Laws
ISBN (Paperback) 978-3-11-074231-2
ISBN (Hardcover) 978-3-11-078273-8
e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-074247-3
e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-074256-5
ISSN 2701-147X
e-ISSN 2701-1488
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022936625
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www.degruyter.com
ThisbookisdedicatedtothememoryofBerniceMoore,LanieMoore,Sr.,Mari-
lyn Moore Hardy, Lanie Moore, Jr., and my many other family and friends who
have departed this earth and contributed to my spiritual, personal, and profes-
sional development as avoting rights advocate.
Acknowledgements
Thecombinationoflegislativereformsandvotermobilizationsrecountedinthis
bookwereundertakenbyawidespectrum ofadvocates,organizations,contrib-
utors,andcoalitionsthataretoonumeroustonamehere.However,Iwouldlike
tosincerelythankallthosepersonsandentitiesreferencedbelowfortheirlong-
standingcontributionstothestruggleforvoterreformshighlightedinthisbook
—and to the expansion of our democracyoverall.
First and foremost, I want to acknowledge the arduous work and commit-
ment of the “Motor Voter Coalition,” made up of over thirty organizations who
worked for over 4 years to pass the landmark National Voter Registration Act
of 1993, (NVRA).While the coalition received little notoriety, it was effective in
plowing through years of partisan gridlock and resistance on Capitol Hill to
passoneofthemostcomprehensivevoterreformbillsinUSHistory.Theoriginal
membersoftheMotorVoterCoalitionincluded:TheLeagueofWomenVoters,the
NAACP, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the NAACP Legal
DefenseandEducationFund,theAmericanCivilLibertiesUniontheLawyersCom-
mittee for Civil Rights Under Law, ACORN, Project Vote, Human Serve, People for
the American Way, the Citizenship Education Fund and Rainbow/Push Coalition,
the Center on Policy Alternatives, the AFL-CIO, the National Coalition on Black
Civic Participation, the A. Phillip Randolph Institute, the National Urban League,
the Mexican American LegalDefense and Education Fund, the United States Stu-
dentAssociation,DisabledVeteransofAmerica,BlackVeteransofAmerica,Disa-
bled-But Able to Vote, Rock the Vote, Common Cause, the US Public Interest Re-
search Group, the Midwest and Southwest Voter Registration Projects, the
Committee for the Study of the Electorate, the Center for Constitutional Rights,
the American Jewish Committee, the League of United Latin American Citizens,
the National Disabilities Rights Network, the Paralyzed Veterans of America, and
the United Methodist Church-General Board of Church and Society.
After NVRA’s passage,there were major institutions and organizationswho
undertookresearchandanalysisoftheNVRA’simpactintheyearsafteritspas-
sage.Within the federal government, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission,
and Department of Justice led the oversite and enforcement respectfully.
Among the leading advocacy groups were DEMOS, the Advancement Project,
Pew Charitable Trust, Project Vote, the Brennen Center for Justice at NYU, the
ACLU, the NAACP LDF, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education
Fund, the Democracy Fund and scores of foundations and advocacy organiza-
tions.Without theirconstantmonitoringand fierceadvocacyofNVRA’sfull im-
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110742473-001
VIII Acknowledgements
plementationandenforcement,thelaw’simpactwouldhavebeengreatlydimin-
ished.
Many prominent members of the civil rights, labor, faith-based and human
rights community played a significant role behind the scenes to advance NVRA
and the many voting rights crusades highlighted in this book. They include
MotorVoterCo-chairsNAACPAttorneyEddieHailes and LeagueofWomenVot-
ers, lobbyists Mary Brooks and Lloyd Leonard; Human Serve leaders Richard
ClowardandFrancisFox-Piven,JoAnneChasnow,andHulbertJames;Disability
Activists Jim Dixon and Justin Dart; Mort Halpern, Judy Goldberg-Crockett, and
Laura Murphy Lee of the ACLU; Elaine Jones, Penda Hair, Lani Gunier, Ted
Shaw, Judith Brown-Dianis NAACP-LDF, longtime NAACP Washington Bureau
Chief Hillary Shelton, the Advancement Project’s the National Coalition on
BlackCivicParticipation’sDirectorsGraciaHillman,Atty.SonyaJarvis,andMel-
anieCampbell;MarshaAdlerandMelanneVerveerwithPeoplefortheAmerican
Way;Wallace Williams,with Black Veterans of America,the Mexican American
LegalDefenseFund’sSteveCarbo,DEMOSfounderandformerConnecticutSec-
retary of State Miles Rappaport, National Urban League’s Bob McAlpine, and
Ron Jackson; Patrick Lippert and Steve Barr with Rock the Vote; Mary Francis
Berry,U.S.CommissiononCivilRights;RalphNeas,WadeHenderson,GeneKar-
pinski,U.S. Public Interest Research Group, Nancy Zirkin, Bill Taylor and Ellen
Buchmanwith the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
The NVRA could not have been enacted into law without key Congressper-
sonsandcongressionalstaffers.TheyincludetheNVRAleadsponsors,Congress-
man AlSwift’sstaffers KarlSandstorm,HerbStone;RulesCommitteeChairman
Wendall Fordand lead counsel Jack Sousa; HouseJudiciary Committee’s Chair-
manandNVRAco-sponsorCongressmanJohnConyers,Jr.;StaffDirectorsJulian
Epstein, Perry Applebaum, and Committee Counselors Ron Stroman, Keenan
Keller,Ted Kalo, and Stephanie Moore; House Leadership staff Lorraine Miller,
Steve Chapman, and Cassandra Butts. Special recognition must be given to Re-
publicanMembersofCongressandtheirstaffwhosupportedvoterreforminde-
fiance of their party leadership: Representatives Bill Thomas and Jim Sense-
nbrenner; and Senators Mark Hatfield, Jim Jeffords, and Dave Durenberger in
the Senate.
Finally,Iwanttopaytributetomanyofthefallenwarriorswhowerecham-
pions of the NVRA and have left their indelible mark on our nation’s voting
rights history.They include Althea Simmons, of the NAACP, Professor Richard
Cloward, a pioneer of agency based voter registration; Attorney Frank Parker,
Lawyer’sCommitteeforCivilRightsUnderLaw;RonBrown,thefirstBlackDem-
ocratic National Committee Chairman; Patrick Lippert of Rock the Vote;Willie
VelasquezandAntonioGonzalesoftheSouthwestVoterRegistrationProject;At-
Acknowledgements IX
torneysLaniGunierandCounselDirectorJuliusChamberswiththeNAACP-LDF;
Curtis Gans with the Committee for the Study of the Electorate; and Equal Em-
ployment Opportunity Commission Chairperson Jaqueline Berrien. In the US
Congress, Representatives John Conyers,Jr. Al Swift, John Lewis, Bill Gray, Ste-
phanie-Tubbs Jones; and Senators Wendall Ford, Mark Hatfield, and Paul Well-
stone in the US Senate.
And finally, a special thank you to the editors and production crew at De
GruyterPublishing:MattQvortrupwhofirstinvitedmetobepartoftheDemoc-
racy in Times of Upheaval series, Michaela Göbels, Gerhard Boomgaarden and
Katharina Ehlgenwho guided this manuscript to its final edits and production.
Thankyouforyourpatienceandyourcontinuedencouragementtobringthisde-
cadeslongresearchandwritingprojecttofruition.SpecialthankstoShellyWil-
seywholedmetotheILAinternationalconveningandMattQvortrup.Thanksto
Jennifer Lawrence and copy editors at American Manuscript Editors; to Anitra
Merritt and Dr. Denise Wright for the initial word processing and research of
myearliermanuscriptdrafts.Thankstotheacademics,peerreviewers,research-
ersandreaderswhocritiquedmultipleversionsofthemanuscriptincluding:led
by my devoted wife and life partner Jean (JB) Moore who has been by my side
during much of this journey, Dr. David Descutner, Gillian Berchowitz and Ri-
chard Hurd of Ohio University Press; Professor James Steele, Medgar Evers Col-
lege,(CUNY),Dr.KeithJennings,Atlanta-ClarkUniversity;Dr.CarlLevan,Amer-
ican University, and Dr.Clarence Lusane, Howard University. Mysincere thanks
toalltheaboveforyourcommitmenttoexpandingtherighttovoteandformak-
ingthisbookpossible.MostimportantlyIwanttothankGodforallowingmeto
beapartofandbearwitnesstoallofthehistoricalexperiencesdetailedinthis
book.
