Numerous federal mandates have been passed in the last 60 years ranging from the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to the Clean Air Act (1970). Generally speaking, federal mandates are orders from the federal government that states have to comply with. They typically help state governments solve social issues within their communities, and they act as a way for the federal government to get the states to do what they want; therefore, increasing federal power. A specific mandate used to fulfill those exact purposes was the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Despite existing laws allowing African Americans to vote, The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed in order to solve the issues surrounding widespread racial discrimination in voting throughout United States. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is also known as the “act to enforce the fifteenth amendment of the Constitution.” The fifteenth amendment stated that the right to vote of any male citizen of the United States cannot be denied by any state no matter what his race is. Prior to this mandate, African Americans living in the South faced plenty of obstacles in terms of voting, including poll taxes, unfair literacy …show more content…
Its immediate impact of African-American voting was significant. Overall, around sixty-two percent of African-American voters were registered to vote in the South in just a few years after the passage of the act. Widening the scope of the act to including eighteen year olds and language minorities has also helped increased to number of minority citizens registered to vote in public elections. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was originally intended to protect rights of African Americans, but it has evolved to much in the last few decades to protect various minority groups from all forms of voter