What Happened To The 1965 Voting Rights Act, Gutted By SCOTUS In 2013? R. Reich
This country has a long history of disenfranchising and suppressing the votes of people of color, particularly in the South. But in 2013 the voter suppression efforts of yesteryear came roaring back. That’s when the Supreme Court gutted key provisions in the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Those provisions had stopped states with histories of voter suppression from changing their election laws without an okay from the federal government.
Let’s take a look at how that shameful decision has played out over the years, shall we? Today’s voter suppression often takes the form of purging eligible voters from the rolls, cutting back early and absentee voting, closing polling places, and using strict voter ID requirements – disenfranchising voters of color at every turn. Voter roll purges have become increasingly common.
Officials purged nearly 4 million more names between 2014 and 2016 than between 2006 and 2008 — a 33% increase.
Officials in states that used to be under federal oversight purged voters from the rolls at a rate 40% higher than those in states with no history of voter suppression.
As it turns out, Chief Justice John Roberts was dead wrong when he argued “things have changed dramatically” in the South. Election officials in Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia have all conducted illegal voter roll purges. In Virginia in 2013, nearly 39,000 voters were removed from the rolls when state officials relied on a faulty database – removing voters who had supposedly moved out of the state.
Even if you make it past a voter roll purge, you may get stuck in endlessly long lines to vote. Since the Voting Rights Act was gutted in 2013, 1,688 polling places have been shuttered in states previously bound by the Act’s preclearance requirement. Texas officials closed 750 polling places. Arizona and Georgia were almost as bad. Not surprisingly, these closures were mostly in communities of color. In Texas, officials in the 50 counties that gained the most Black and Latinx residents between 2012 and 2018 closed 542 polling sites, compared to just 34 closures in the 50 counties that gained the fewest Black and Latinx residents.
In Georgia’s 2020 primary, 80 polling places were closed in Atlanta, home to Georgia’s largest Black population — forcing 16,000 residents to use a single polling place.
And even if you get to a polling place after standing for three hours to cast your ballot, you may end up being turned away because of a restrictive voter ID law. Republican lawmakers in 15 states have passed such laws since the Supreme Court’s shameful decision...
https://robertreich.org/post/632614773743304704
- People stand in line to vote outside a polling site at Trump Place, New York, 2018.
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- Oct. 23, 2020.' Penn. Cannot Reject Mail In Ballots Due To Signature Discrepancies: State Court,' US News
https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2020-10-23/pennsylvania-can-not-reject-mail-in-ballots-due-to-signature-discrepancy-state-court
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