voting rights act
August 20, 2021 -
North Carolina's Republican-controlled legislature is now redrawing state House and Senate election districts. It must comply with the Voting Rights Act — and a 1968 constitutional amendment that's been at odds with the VRA.
July 2, 2021 -
Last week the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it was suing Georgia over its restrictive new voting law, part of a recent wave of such legislation passed by Republican-led state legislatures. But a July 1 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on a Voting Rights Act case out of Arizona makes the lawsuit's future even more uncertain.
June 28, 2021 -
Joan C. Browning of West Virginia took part in the 1961 Freedom Rides challenging segregated transportation in the Jim Crow South, and she recently welcomed the Black Voters Matter Freedom Ride for Voting Rights to Charleston. We're reprinting the full text of her remarks drawing on history to suggest paths to a more just future.
June 10, 2021 -
As in the South of the 19th century, we have a massive group among us willing to throw democracy away in order to assure their ascendancy. With a dominant political party committed to autocracy, we're treading new ground — at least new ground in modern times.
May 21, 2021 -
Republican state legislators across the South are making it harder for voters to cast a ballot. Voting rights groups and local officials are suing over the changes, which they argue will disparately impact voters of color and those with disabilities. But the judges with the final say are mostly Republicans.
April 22, 2021 -
Delayed census results, GOP control of Southern legislatures, and the gutting of the Voting Rights Act could lead to unfair new legislative and congressional election maps across the region, according to a new report from the nonprofit RepresentUs. Voting rights advocates say the solution lies in Congress passing the For the People Act.
February 12, 2021 -
How could such an extremist end up in Congress? Consider Georgia's congressional district map, which like all state congressional and legislative maps is set to be redrawn later this year. A new report out this week finds that Georgia and a handful of other Southern states remain at risk for more extreme partisan gerrymandering.