LBJ Museum hosts voting exhibit

The LBJ Museum of San Marcos is pleased to announce that they have been selected to host a temporary exhibition, 'Who Can Vote: A Brief History of Voting Rights in the U.S.'

This traveling exhibit is from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History through a partnership with the Annenberg Public Policy Center. It will be at the museum through Aug. 19.

The exhibit examines the history of voting rights with an emphasis on the role of the US Constitution and the interplay between the states and federal government in determining who is allowed to vote.

Beginning with the Founding Era and going to the election of 2000, this exhibition explores the complex history of the right to vote that forms the core of our nation’s democracy.

Topics include voting as a constitutional right, women’s suffrage, Reconstruction and Jim Crow era voting rights, the Civil Rights Movement, and the enfranchisement of Indigenous peoples.

Fifty-eight years ago today on Aug. 6, 1965, during the height of the civil rights movement, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 with Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights leaders present at the ceremony.

This landmark act prohibiting racial discrimination in voting is considered one of the most far-reaching pieces of Civil Rights legislation in U.S. history.

The Voting Rights Act had an immediate impact and by the end of 1965, a quarter of a million new Black voters had been registered, The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was readopted and strengthened in 1970, 1975 and 1982.

The LBJ Museum is open Thursday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and it is free to the public.

The temporary exhibit will be at the museum until Aug. 19, so museum officials say that this is a good time to visit the museum and to view the temporary exhibit to understand the hard fought history of voting in the U.S.

On Thursday, Aug. 17, the League of Women Voters is sponsoring a Volunteer Deputy Registrars remote training session at the LBJ Museum beginning at 3 p.m.

VDRs are entrusted with the responsibility of officially registering voters in the State of Texas.

They are appointed by county voter registrars and charged with helping increase voter registration in the state.

This training session will be conducted by Travis Country with reciprocity in Hays County.

The training is open to the public and for trainees, beginning at 4 p.m., there will be a reception with conversation and viewing of the display 'Who Can Vote? A Brief History of Voting Rights in the US.'

For more information on the training or reception please contact the League of Women Voters at 512-738-5998 or the LBJ Museum at 512353-3300.