Opinion: Congressional GOP face tough choices about minority voters

Opinion: Congressional GOP face tough choices about minority voters


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SALT LAKE CITY — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 25, in a 5-4 vote along ideological lines, struck down key sections of the Voting Rights Act. Although Congress had renewed the act in 2006 after holding extensive hearings on racial discrimination in voting, Chief Justice Roberts writing for the majority said, "our country has changed" and the act no longer speaks to current conditions.

The court's decision enables Republican governors and state legislatures to continue to erect new obstacles to voting by African Americans and Hispanics who generally vote for Democrats. However, these same obstacles will make it tougher for Republicans to attract minority voters, which GOP leaders concede their party needs to stay competitive nationally. For example, in 2012, Mitt Romney lost among African Americans by 85 percentage points and among Hispanics by 44 percentage points.

Congress now must decide whether to try to rewrite the so-called "preclearance" provision of the Voting Rights Act which the Supreme Court found unconstitutional, but it is not clear that such an amendment will succeed in the GOP-controlled House.

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Similarly, on June 27, the Senate by a vote of 68-32 passed a historic, comprehensive immigration reform bill that strengthens border security and provides a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants. Utah's Sen. Orrin Hatch joined 13 other Republican Senators to vote with all the Senate Democrats to pass the bill. Although the bill is supported by the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce and our state's religious leaders, Utah's Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz said, "'I couldn't care less. I don't know why that would affect my thinking on the issue."

Even though President Obama received 71 percent of the Hispanic vote in his 2012 reelection, Chaffetz and many other House Republicans probably will not support legislation offering eventual citizenship to 11 million people who are in the U.S. illegally. "If a bill comes over here and has amnesty, I'm not going to be able to support it," he said. "It is that simple. It's partly what I was elected on."

Congress may be deadlocked about comprehensive immigration reform. Republican House Speaker John Boehner repeatedly has said he will not bring a bill up for a vote unless a majority of House Republicans support it. A House bill without a path to citizenship will not be approved in the Senate.

Because presidential voting math does not motivate Tea Party Republicans, they probably will vote against amending the Voting Rights Act and against an immigration reform bill containing a path to citizenship. In that case, the huge presidential election margins among minority voters may ensure Democratic presidential candidates will be elected for decades to come.

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Meghan Holbrook

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