#votingrightsact — Public Fediverse posts

Voter Intimidation at the Polls: What Every American Should Know Before November

https://thedemocracyadvocate.com/current-events/voter-intimidation-at-the-polls/

"Donald Trump’s administration has ignored the economic concerns (of Black people) while kicking them out of government positions and systematically dismantling programs that invest in Black communities. And, perhaps most significantly, Trump’s handpicked Supreme Court justices have undone protections of the #VotingRightsAct in the greatest threat to Black political representation since Jim Crow":
https://thegrio.com/2026/08/28/the-supreme-court-sent-a-message-black-voters-are-hearing-it-loud-and-clear/
copy: @renewedresistance #politics #Trump #racism

It Has become Unbearable
#IdiotInChief #orangeDecibyte #VPTrump & its enablers, #PresidentVought, #PresidentThiel, #PresidentBezos, #PresidentMusk, and #PresidentMiller have destroyed a young* #democracy.
#Resist to #saveDemocracy!
#Amphifa: #ViveLaFrogistance!
#ALText
*since 1965: #VotingRightsAct

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:omyr27fmzj3phbagch4sqyub/post/3mtvqfub6r22o

Anna Crane of the League of Women Voters of Alameda writes to the Editor to support and mark the anniversary of the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. https://alamedapost.com/op-ed/letters-to-the-editor-for-august-14-2026/

#alameda #LeagueOfWomenVoters #LetterToTheEditor #VotingRightsAct

please watch #StaceyAbrams
61 yrs after #VotingRightsAct became law, its promise is once again under attack
As I told @MichaelSteele last night: We have the power. We have the agency. We have the numbers. And every time we rise, unite and vote, we prove that our power is real.
https://x.com/staceyabrams/status/2085723356662264147?s=12

✊The Voting Rights Act is one of the most consequential civil rights achievements in our nation’s history. It helped dismantle discriminatory barriers designed to keep Black Americans from exercising their fundamental right to vote.
@[email protected]

#VRA #VotingRightsAct #CivilRights

Important American History Moments That Happened in August

African American history is American history, and August includes several major turning points in the nation’s political, cultural, labor and civil-rights story.

From the arrival of Africans at Point Comfort in 1619 to the March on Washington in 1963, the month includes moments of achievement, resistance, tragedy and transformation. August also marks the anniversaries of the Voting Rights Act, Thurgood Marshall’s Supreme Court confirmation and the birth of the nation’s first African American president.

Here are some of the most important African American history dates to remember in August.

August 4, 1961: Barack Obama Was Born

Barack Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on August 4, 1961. He became the 44th president of the United States and the first African American to hold the nation’s highest office when he was inaugurated in January 2009.

Obama served two terms as president, from 2009 to 2017. His election represented a historic milestone nearly 150 years after the abolition of slavery and more than four decades after the Voting Rights Act became law.

Learn more from the Obama White House Archives⁠.

August 6, 1965: The Voting Rights Act Was Signed

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law on August 6, 1965.

The landmark legislation prohibited racially discriminatory voting practices, including literacy tests used to prevent Black citizens from registering to vote. It also authorized federal intervention in jurisdictions with documented histories of discrimination.

The law followed years of organizing and sacrifice by civil-rights activists, including the voting-rights campaign and marches in Selma, Alabama.

Read the Voting Rights Act at the National Archives⁠.

August 9, 1936: Jesse Owens Won His Fourth Olympic Gold Medal

Jesse Owens won his fourth gold medal at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin as a member of the United States 4-by-100-meter relay team.

Owens also earned gold medals in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash and long jump. His achievements challenged Nazi Germany’s claims of Aryan racial superiority and established him as one of the most accomplished athletes in Olympic history.

Owens returned to a segregated United States, where he continued to face racial discrimination despite his international success.

August 17, 1887: Marcus Garvey Was Born

Marcus Mosiah Garvey was born in Jamaica on August 17, 1887.

Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and became one of the early 20th century’s most influential advocates for Black nationalism, Pan-Africanism and economic independence.

His movement encouraged people of African descent around the world to take pride in their heritage, build Black-owned institutions and pursue political and economic self-determination.

August 18, 1920: The 19th Amendment Was Ratified

The 19th Amendment was ratified on August 18, 1920, prohibiting the federal government and states from denying voting rights based on sex.

Although the amendment represented an important victory, it did not guarantee equal access to the ballot for all women. Black women, particularly those living in the South, continued to confront poll taxes, literacy tests, intimidation, violence and other discriminatory barriers.

Black women remained central to the continuing struggle for voting rights, which eventually helped produce the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Explore the 19th Amendment through the National Archives⁠.

August 20, 1619: Africans Arrived at Point Comfort

The arrival of Africans at Point Comfort in the English colony of Virginia is traditionally commemorated on August 20.

Approximately 20 Africans were brought to Virginia aboard the English privateer White Lion in late August 1619. The event became an important moment in the development of racialized slavery in English North America.

The date should be understood within a broader history. Africans were present in other parts of the Americas and North America before 1619, and historians continue to examine the status and experiences of the Africans who arrived in Virginia.

August 21, 1831: Nat Turner’s Rebellion Began

Nat Turner and a group of enslaved people began an uprising in Southampton County, Virginia, on August 21, 1831.

Turner, an enslaved preacher, believed he had been called to lead people out of slavery. The rebellion became one of the most consequential uprisings by enslaved people in United States history.

Authorities responded with executions and widespread violence against Black residents. Southern lawmakers also imposed more restrictive laws designed to control the movement, education and religious activities of enslaved and free Black people.

Learn more from the National Museum of African American History and Culture⁠.

August 25, 1925: The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Was Organized

The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was organized in 1925 under the leadership of A. Philip Randolph.

Pullman porters performed demanding work while facing low wages, long hours and racial discrimination. Their union became a pioneering force in the Black labor movement and eventually secured a landmark collective-bargaining agreement.

The Brotherhood’s organizing helped connect economic justice, workers’ rights and the emerging civil-rights movement.

Explore the history of the Pullman porters through the National Park Service⁠.

August 27, 1963: W.E.B. Du Bois Died

Scholar, author and civil-rights leader W.E.B. Du Bois died in Ghana on August 27, 1963, one day before the March on Washington.

Du Bois was a co-founder of the NAACP and an influential advocate for civil rights, higher education and Pan-African unity. His writings examined race, democracy, economics and the experiences of Black Americans.

His death came as a new generation of activists prepared to gather in Washington to demand jobs, equality and freedom.

August 28, 1955: Emmett Till Was Murdered

Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black teenager from Chicago, was abducted and murdered while visiting relatives in Mississippi on August 28, 1955.

His mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, made the courageous decision to hold an open-casket funeral. Images showing the brutality inflicted on her son were published by Black media outlets and seen around the world.

Till’s murder and the acquittal of the two white men charged with the crime helped galvanize a new generation of civil-rights activists.

Read Emmett Till’s story from the Smithsonian⁠.

August 28, 1963: The March on Washington Took Place

Approximately 250,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C., for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963.

The demonstration brought national attention to employment discrimination, segregation, voting rights and the need for comprehensive civil-rights legislation. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his historic “I Have a Dream” speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

The march became one of the defining events of the Civil Rights Movement and helped build momentum for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Explore the March on Washington through the National Park Service⁠.

August 30, 1967: Thurgood Marshall Was Confirmed to the Supreme Court

The United States Senate confirmed Thurgood Marshall as an associate justice of the Supreme Court on August 30, 1967.

Marshall became the first African American to serve on the nation’s highest court. Before joining the Supreme Court, he was a leading civil-rights attorney who successfully argued Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark case that declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional.

Marshall served on the Supreme Court from 1967 until 1991.

View the Senate’s historical record⁠.

Why August 28 Is Especially Important in Black History

August 28 stands out as an exceptionally consequential date in African American history.

Emmett Till was murdered on August 28, 1955. Eight years later, the March on Washington brought approximately 250,000 people to the nation’s capital. W.E.B. Du Bois had died in Ghana just one day before the march.

The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture has highlighted August 28 because of the number of major events connected to Black history that have occurred on that date.

Keep Learning About African American History

These anniversaries provide opportunities to learn about the people and movements that transformed the United States. They also remind us that progress resulted from sustained organizing, courage, creativity and sacrifice.

Raleigh residents can continue exploring African American history through local museums, historic sites, libraries, archives and community organizations throughout the year.

Follow DoRaleigh.com for everything Raleigh, including local history, community events, government news and cultural coverage.

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Written by Bryan Tomlinson, Editor of DoRaleigh.com.

"To discuss what the decision in #LouisianaVCallais means for future #USelections and the long erosion of #votingRights protections, from the limitations of the 15th amendment to the evisceration of the 1965 #VotingRightsAct, Adam Shatz is joined by Mara Gay, a staff writer at the New York Times, and Randall Kennedy, a professor of law at Harvard."

https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-videos/podcasts/the-lrb-podcast/the-long-history-of-black-voter-suppression-in-the-us
#USpol #USpolitics #UShistory #BlackHistory #civilRights #voterSuppression #racializedCommunities #justice #SCOTUS

Their Loved Ones Died to Give Us the Voting Rights Act. They Have a Message for the Supreme Court.

One of the simplest and most immediate steps Americans can take regain control of their rights is to simply vote and force accountability on politicians. “Otherwise, you sit there and moan and groan and don’t vote. They’re going to do what they want,”

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2026/07/voting-rights-act-andrew-goodman-family-supreme-court-callais-killers.html

Paywall free version https://archive.ph/vNuUe

#VRA #Voting #VotingRights #VotingRightsAct #Slavery #JimCrow #CivilRights #CivilRightsAct #SupremeCourt #constitution #USconstitution #Callais

#democraticsocialism #lesseroftwoevils #socialsecurity #familyandmedicalleaveact #medicare #medicaid #CivilRightsActOf1960 #votingrightsact #minimumwage #overtimepay #chip #CivilRightsActOf1960 #affordablecareact #votingrightsact #violenceagainstwomenact #overtimepay #lillyledbetterfairpayact #unemploymentinsurance #inflationreductionact #peacecorps #RepectForMarriageAct #gibill #pactactforveterans #anticapitalism #antifascism

Birthdays are for kids.

I don’t think the #US needs a sad drunk clown. Oh yeah, right, they elected one.

#Trump isn’t a “drunk”, but he is constantly wired on Adderall.

Still, after you’re old enough to #vote or drink, nobody gives a shit.

I guess that means the US should’ve stopped having birthday parties in 1965, when Black women were finally allowed to vote under the #VotingRightsAct.

I guess this should be a day of mourning, as #JohnRoberts’ #SCOTUS has made gutting the #VRA a priority.

https://www.europesays.com/people/135137/ US Supreme Court again rejects cap on political campaign spending limits #BrettKavanaugh #cincinnati #Colorado #DemocraticNationalCommittee #DonaldTrump #FederalElectionCampaignAct #FirstAmendment #JDVance #Mississippi #Ohio #POTUS #PresidentOfTheUnitedStates #RepublicanNationalCommittee #RomanMartinez #SupremeCourt #UsConstitution #VotingRightsAct

Postmaster General says USPS won't send mail ballots to states that don't provide voter lists | PBS NewsHour

Video Source:
https://reddit.com/comments/1uep58l

#protest #politics #resistance #resist #usa #authoritarianism #fascism #civildisobedience #USAFascistShitShow #policestate #policemilitarization #policemilitarization #federalinvasion #nokings #50501movement #votingrightsact #usps #riggedelection #unconstitutional #electioninterference #elections #vote

In 2025, an #Arkansas appeals panel severely limited how the Voting Rights Act can be enforced. It eliminates a vital mechanism for communities of color and voters with disabilities to challenge discriminatory voting practices.

The case was appealed to the #SupremeCourt. The Court declined to review, leaving in place the lower court ruling.

The decision strips the private right to sue under Section 208 of the landmark civil rights Voting Rights Act, which allows voters with a disability or those unable to read or write to receive voting assistance from a person of their choice.

They seem to think if they can stop us from voting, they can stop us from rising. They will not.

https://www.npr.org/2026/06/22/nx-s1-5863532/supreme-court-voting-rights-act-private-right-arkansas

#VotingRightsAct #uspol #voting #discrimination #disability #StillWeRise #illiteracy

Worse things are happening now, @geoffcmason, than happened decades ago. For example the Supreme Court issued a racist opinion (called Callais) which pretty much destroyed the #VotingRightsAct.

Since #SCOTUS’ April ruling, largely #white #Republican-led legislatures across the #South have moved to dismantle #Black political #power at stunning speed, breaking apart voting blocs at the urging of a failing president desperate to keep control of #Congress in this fall’s midterm #elections.

#RepresentationMatters #SouthernStrategy #JimCrow #law #ElectionLaw #ActivistCourt #VotingRights #VotingRightsAct #VRA #redistricting #elections #USpol #Trump #Republicans #WhiteSupremacy

#Black Americans have carried extraordinary burdens in the #UnitedStates, not only to exercise their own rights but also to make the country a #democracy. The #VotingRightsAct, passed in 1965 & strengthened in the decades that followed, had protected them from #RacialGerrymandering that divided them across multiple districts to blunt the impact of their votes. This was just one of a multitude of tactics Southern officials used to limit Black #suffrage & stifle competition during #JimCrow.

#law

#GiftArticle

A Shocking Betrayal of #Black Americans

by Mara Gay

The dismantling of Black political #power in the South is a great betrayal, & its effects will ripple through our #democracy.

#RepresentationMatters #SouthernStrategy #JimCrow #law #ElectionLaw #SCOTUS #ActivistCourt #VotingRights #VotingRightsAct #VRA #redistricting #elections #USpol #Trump #Republicans #WhiteSupremacy
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/05/opinion/voting-rights-act-black-voters-south.html?unlocked_article_code=1.oVA.qSCM.vEpY9cDXlL3Z&smid=nytcore-ios-share

A Shocking Betrayal of Black Americans https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/05/opinion/voting-rights-act-black-voters-south.html?smid=nytcore-android-share
#VotingRightsAct

When the two sides differ, @volkris, you agreed with what the Republican majority on the Supreme Court wrote, and I agreed with what the Democratic minority wrote. People including Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor certainly read and understood the cases, but she did not reach the same #racist conclusion as Samuel Alito did, for example, in cases that undermined the #VotingRightsAct. #HumanRights

Lees tip -> Hooggerechtshof VS keurt omstreden kieskaart Alabama goed | Het Amerikaanse Hooggerechtshof staat Alabama toe een omstreden kieskaart te gebruiken bij de midterms. | #Alabama #democraten #Hooggerechtshof #kiesdistricten #kieskaart #midterms #republikeinen #VerenigdeStaten #VotingRightsAct |

https://hbpmedia.nl/hooggerechtshof-vs-keurt-omstreden-kieskaart-alabama-goed/

Lees tip -> Hooggerechtshof VS keurt omstreden kieskaart Alabama goed | Het Amerikaanse Hooggerechtshof staat Alabama toe een omstreden kieskaart te gebruiken bij de midterms. | #kieskaart #VotingRightsAct #Alabama #midterms #VerenigdeStaten #republikeinen #Hooggerechtshof #kiesdistricten #democraten |

https://hbpmedia.nl/hooggerechtshof-vs-keurt-omstreden-kieskaart-alabama-goed/

Over the course of several months, #SCOTUS has had a hand in congressional maps in Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Virginia & California. Most of those decisions have benefited the #Republican Party.

The Alabama case is also the latest “emergency” order tied to the court’s April decision on the #VotingRightsAct, in which a 6-3 majority gutted the ability of groups to bring claims of racial #discrimination under that 1965 landmark #law.

#redistricting #SouthernStrategy #JimCrow #Trump #ActivistCourt

> It’s been just over a month since the US Supreme Court gutted what remained of the Voting Rights Act, and the fallout has been staggering. Southern states have moved with alarming speed to redraw their congressional maps in time for the 2026 midterm election and in the process moved to eliminate majority-Black and Democratic districts in Louisiana, Tennessee, Florida, and Alabama.

To help make sense of the Supreme Court’s decision, the fallout from it, and what people are doing to counter it, I’d like to invite you to join our timely online discussion on Tuesday, June 9, at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT with Mother Jones national voting rights correspondent Ari Berman and Supreme Court reporter Pema Levy. You can register for the discussion here.

#motherjones #scotus #votingrightsact #louisiana
#Tennessee #florida
#alabama #supremecourt
#ariberman #pemalevy
#midterms2026 #midtermelections
#uspol

https://motherjones.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_F0hUCjlsQri7AQqdtvakvw

CONSERVATIVES: Well, you women haven't lost the vote YET. So what are you complaining about?

WOMEN: You. We're complaining about you.

#conservatives #VotingRightsAct #Republicans #SAVEAMERICAAct #PROJECT2025

#InstitutionalRACISM #JimCrowRACISM #VOTINGRightsACT Back!!

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:pjiafkey2cokiupsxpswqlk7/post/3mnb4lgeozs2d

Until the ruling class is losing money, control, legitimacy, and stability, everything else is perfomance. And perfomance is safe.

Video Source:
https://reddit.com/comments/1ttdj4l

#protest #politics #resistance #resist #usa #authoritarianism #fascism #civildisobedience #USAFascistShitShow #pedophile #pedo47 #epsteintrump #releasetheepsteinfiles #ice #policestate #policemilitarization #paramilitary #policemilitarization #federalinvasion #nowar #nokings #50501movement #votingrightsact #civildisobedience #ice #abolishice #abolishdhs #abolishhsi #abolishero #abolishcbp #acab

The Arc of the Voting Rights Act https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/05/louisiana-voting-map-redistricting-republican/687357/?utm_source=feed #uspoli #GOPCheats #TrumpCheats #VotingRightsAct #redistricting #racism #MinorityVotes #TrumpCorruption #GOPCorruption #AIPAC #USElections

Supreme Court Breaks Another Election To Make Sure Black Voters Are Disenfranchised

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.techdirt.com/2026/05/12/supreme-court-breaks-another-election-to-make-sure-black-voters-are-disenfranchised/

ICYMI Excellent interview about the Voting Rights Act and where it now stands with Sherrill Ifill and Jon Stewart of The Daily Show.

Civil rights lawyer and founding director of Howard Law School's 14th Amendment Center for Law & Democracy, Sherrilyn Ifill, sits down with Jon Stewart to discuss the Supreme Court’s weakening of the Voting Rights Act.

They talk about how the reinstatement for purposeful discrimination overturned the court’s own precedent, how the Voting Rights Act protects the voting strength of minorities and their candidates of choice, and the dangerous potential for Trump and Republicans to redistrict using this precedent in an effort to turn seats in the House.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCse1FFEKLM

#Voting #VotingRights #VotingRightsAct #SherillIfill #JonSteward #TheDailyShow #DailyShow #Louisiana #SupremeCourt

cc: @heidilifeldman

This, precisely, is the problem:
https://www.contrariannews.org/p/america-becomes-outraged-only-when?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
#scotus #votingrights #vra #dei #louisiana #alabama #votersuppression #gerrymandering #rigged #cherrypicking #mlk #callaisrequirements #callais #minorityrepresentation #reconstruction #justiceelenakagan #nikolehannahjones #attackondemocracy #votingrightsact #civilwar #confederacy #southernstrategy #supplysideeconomics #trickledowntheory #race #gender #socioeconomicstatus #educationallevel #obbb #nabj #project2025 #heritagefoundation

@indivisibleteam

The #SCOTUS decision on the #VotingRightsAct is exactly what #LeonardLeo and the #FederalistSociety paid for in #ChiefJustice #JohnRoberts

@georgetakei

The #SCOTUS decision on the #VotingRightsAct is exactly what #LeonardLeo and the #FederalistSociety paid for in #ChiefJustice #JohnRoberts

Gerrymandering or not, however you slice it, this does not change my view that drawing districts ought to be a process left to independent commissions based on as transparent and nonpartisan a methodology as possible. The United Kingdom knows better than to have politicians pick voters, as does even Brazil.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5856022-redistricting-supreme-court-voting-rights-act/

#democraticBacksliding #democracy #electionReform #elections #gerrymandering #partisanship #redistricting #SCOTUS #VotingRightsAct #voterSuppression
#USPolitics

RE: https://mastodon.social/@QasimRashid/116489299784659411

Today the Roberts Court spits on graves of hundreds of thousands who died for the idea that black people are people.
The Civil War really was a thing.
But Uncle #ClarenceThomas won't be happy until he can't vote.
#JohnRoberts #RobertsCourt #SCOTUS #crowned #King #OurPutin #VotingRightsAct #VRA #GOP #KKK #DEI #fascist #USA #Constitution #Alito #Kavanaugh #ComeyBarrett #Gorsuch #SupremeCourt #voting #civil #rights

Samuel Alito justified a Supreme Court ruling that threatens majority-Black voting districts

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/scotus-further-guts-voting-rights

The 1965 #VotingRightsAct, the #centerpiece legislation of the #CivilRights Movement, succeeded in opening the ballot box to #Black Americans & reducing persistent racial #discrimination in voting. Nearly 70 of the 435 congressional districts are protected by #Section2, #ElectionLaw expert Nicholas Stephanopoulos has estimated.

#law #SCOTUS #VotingRights #RepresentationMatters

A court ruling could shrink Black representation in Congress – NPR

Politics

A Supreme Court ruling could bring historic drop in Black representation in Congress

January 8, 2026, 5:00 AM ET

By Hansi Lo Wang

The United States could be headed toward the largest-ever decline in representation by Black members of Congress, depending on how the Supreme Court rules in a closely watched redistricting case about the Voting Rights Act.

For decades, the landmark law that came out of the Civil Rights Movement has protected the collective voting power of racial minorities when political maps are redrawn. Its provisions have also boosted the number of seats in the House of Representatives filled by Black lawmakers.

That’s largely because in many Southern states — where voting is often polarized between a Republican-supporting white majority and a Democratic-supporting Black minority — political mapmakers have drawn a certain kind of district to get in line with the Voting Rights Act’s Section 2 provisions. In these districts, racial-minority voters make up a population large enough to have a realistic opportunity of electing their preferred candidates.

But at an October hearing last year for the redistricting case about Louisiana’s congressional map, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared inclined to issue this year another in a series of decisions that have weakened the Voting Rights Act — this time its Section 2 protections in redistricting.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: A court ruling could shrink Black representation in Congress : NPR

What Is A #PollTax? Definition and Examples

By Robert Longley, July 27, 2022

Excerpt: "In the United States, the origin of the poll tax—and the controversy surrounding it—is associated with the agrarian unrest of the 1880s and 1890s, which culminated in the rise of the Populist Party in the Western and the Southern states. The Populists, representing low-income farmers, gave Democrats in these areas the only serious competition that they had experienced since the end of Reconstruction. The competition led both parties to see the need to attract Black citizens back into politics and to compete for their vote. As the Democrats defeated the Populists, they amended their state constitutions or drafted new ones to include various discriminatory disfranchising devices. When the payment of the poll tax was made a prerequisite to voting, impoverished #BlackPeople and often #PoorWhitePeople, unable to afford the tax, were denied the #RightToVote.

"During the post-Civil War Reconstruction Era in the United States, the former states of the Confederacy repurposed the poll tax explicitly to prevent formerly enslaved #BlackAmericans from voting. Although the #14thAmendment and #15thAmendment [s] gave Black men full #citizenship and #VotingRights, the power to determine what constituted a qualified voter was left to the states. Beginning with Mississippi in 1890, #SouthernStates quickly exploited this legal loophole. At its 1890 constitutional convention, Mississippi imposed a $2.00 poll tax and early registration as a requirement for voting. This had catastrophic results for the Black electorate. Whereas approximately 87,000 Black citizens registered to vote in 1869, representing almost 97% of the eligible voting-age population, fewer than 9,000 of them registered to vote after the state’s new constitution took effect in 1892.

"Between 1890 and 1902, all eleven former #Confederate states imposed some form of a poll tax to deter Black Americans from voting. The tax, which ranged from $1 to $2, was prohibitively expensive for most Black sharecroppers, who earned their wages in crops, not currency. Beyond the cost, voter registration and tax payment offices were usually located in public spaces designed to intimidate potential voters, like courthouses and police stations.

"The southern states also enacted #JimCrowLaws intended to reinforce #RacialSegregation and restrict Black voting rights. Along with the poll tax, most of these states also imposed literacy tests, which required potential voters to read and interpret in writing sections of the state constitution. So-called 'grandfather clauses' allowed a person to vote without paying the poll tax or passing the literacy test if their father or grandfather had voted before the abolition of slavery in 1865; a stipulation that automatically precluded all formerly enslaved persons. Together, the grandfather clause and the literacy tests effectively restored voting rights to poorer White voters who could not pay the poll tax, while further suppressing the Black vote.

"Poll taxes of varying stipulations lingered in Southern states well into the 20th century. While some states abolished the tax in the years after World War I, others retained it. Ratified in 1964, the #24thAmendment to the #USConstitution declared the tax unconstitutional in federal elections.

"Specifically, the 24th Amendment states:

'The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.'

"President Lyndon B. Johnson called the amendment a 'triumph of liberty over restriction.' 'It is a verification of people's rights, which are rooted so deeply in the mainstream of this nation's history,' he said.

"The #VotingRightsAct of 1965 created significant changes in the voting status of Black Americans throughout the South. The law prohibited the states from using literacy tests and other methods of excluding Black Americans from voting. Before this, only an estimated twenty-three percent of voting-age Black citizens were registered nationally, but by 1969 the number had jumped to sixty-one percent.

"In 1966 the U.S. Supreme Court went beyond the Twenty-fourth Amendment by ruling in the case of Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections that under the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, states could not levy a poll tax as a prerequisite for voting in state and local elections. In two months in the spring of 1966, federal courts declared poll tax laws unconstitutional in the last four states that still had them, starting with Texas on February 9. Similar decisions soon followed in Alabama and Virginia. Mississippi's $2.00 poll tax (about $18 today) was the last to fall, declared unconstitutional on April 8, 1966."

https://www.thoughtco.com/poll-tax-definition-and-examples-5443130
#VoterDisenfranchisement #USPol #USHistory #TwentyFourthAmendment #FourteenthAmendment #FifteenthAmendment #VoterRights #LiteracyTests #USElections #VoterSuppression #BlackAmericans

Weird Maps Win Elections – [USA] Gerrymandering Explained [Map Men]
--
https://youtu.be/cwBslntC3xg?si=cNufts2Aa42QL6ZY <-- shared video
--
[an excellent description of gerrymandering of political districts in the USA]
“Why does the USA draw district maps with absolutely bonkers shapes? And how do squiggly districts help the wrong politicians win elections? And have we been pronouncing "Gerrymandering" wrong for 200 years?...”
#GIS #spatial #mapping #MapMen #gischat #politics #USA #political #gerrymandering #elections #districts #packing #cracking #voting #voters #democracy #selfsorting #demographics #minorities #VotingRightsAct #diversity #redistricting #AI #swingvoters #elections #MapMen

Growing Racial Disparities in Voter Turnout, 2008–2022 | Brennan Center for Justice

When the Supreme Court knocked down a core part of the Voting Rights Act in 2013, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. argued that some of the law’s protections against racial discrimination were no longer necessary.

He wrote that the once-troubling 🔹turnout gap 🔹between white and Black voters in areas with histories of discrimination at the polls had largely disappeared, and that “the conditions that originally justified” the civil rights law’s attention to these places, mostly in the South, no longer existed.

But a new, yearslong study by the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan think tank focused on democracy and voting rights issues, suggests otherwise.

Before the decision, counties with a history of racial discrimination at the polls were required to obtain permission from the Justice Department before changing voting laws or procedures.
This was known as “#preclearance” under 🔸Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act🔸,
and it was the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in 👎Shelby County v. Holder👎 that effectively killed this part of the law.

Since that decision, the "gap" in turnout rates between white and nonwhite voters
👉“grew almost twice as quickly in formerly covered jurisdictions as in other parts of the country with similar demographic and socioeconomic profiles,” the Brennan study found.

The “racial turnout gap” refers to the difference in the percentage of eligible white and nonwhite voters who cast a ballot in a given election. This gap is watched closely by voting rights groups and civil rights leaders as an ♦️indication of potentially harmful laws or procedures that could have suppressive effects on communities of color.♦️

According to the group’s report, the "turnout gap" between Black and white voters in those former Section 5 counties has 🔥grown by 11 percentage points since the Shelby decision, 🔥between 2012 and 2022. The study relied on nearly one billion voter files to estimate that, had the decision never occurred, the white-Black turnout gap would have nevertheless grown, but by just six percentage points.

Though that difference may appear small, the study’s authors contend that such gaps are “potentially huge” in modern politics: Since 2012, at least 62 elections for Senate, governor and president in states with Section 5 counties were decided by under five percentage points.

“Obviously, it matters from a moral standpoint, but it also matters because the margins are significant, particularly given how close elections are around the country,” said Kareem Crayton, the senior director for voting rights and representation at the Brennan Center

#Shelby #VRA #VotingRightsAct

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/growing-racial-disparities-voter-turnout-2008-2022

How the #NativeAmerican Vote Continues to be Suppressed

by Patty Ferguson-Bohnee
February, 2020

"The right to vote has been an uphill battle for #NativeAmericans. The #VotingRightsAct of 1965 helped to secure and protect that right for many Native Americans and #AlaskaNatives. With the Voting Rights Act, voter participation among Native Americans increased. However, the Supreme Court invalidated the Section 5 preclearance formula in 2013 (Shelby County v. Holder, 570 U.S. 529 (2013)), removing one of the most powerful tools to ensure equal access to the ballot, including Alaska and Arizona, and two jurisdictions in South Dakota with significant Native American and Alaska Native populations. Since the Shelby County decision, efforts to suppress the vote have increased. For Native Americans, these voter suppression efforts can and do have devastating impacts.

"Despite the passage of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, many Native Americans living on reservations continued to be excluded from the democratic process. In 1948, Native Americans in #NewMexico and #Arizona successfully litigated their right to vote. #Utah and #NorthDakota became the last states to afford on-reservation Native Americans the right to vote in 1957 and 1958, respectively. When the right to vote was finally secured, voter suppression laws kept Native Americans from voting and seeking elected office. In Arizona, for example, Native Americans could not fully participate in voting until 1970 when the Supreme Court upheld the ban against using literacy tests (Oregon v. Mitchell, 400 U.S. 112 (1970)). Today, the right to vote continues to be challenged through the passage of new laws and practices that either fail to consider, disregard, or intentionally target Native American voters.

"In order to understand the challenges faced by Native American voters, one must recognize the vast differences in experiences, opportunities, and realities facing on-reservation voters as compared to off-reservation voters.

"I will never forget the #Navajo grandmother who spoke only Navajo and could not vote after Arizona passed its voter ID law in 2004. She tried several times to obtain an Arizona ID on her own but was denied because she was born at home in a hogan, and the boarding schools changed her Navajo name to English. She lived in a modest home on the Navajo Reservation without electricity and running water, and lived a traditional lifestyle taking care of her sheep. She was embarrassed and devastated when she was turned away from the polls for not having an ID. Working with her, a team from the Indian Legal Clinic traveled five hours to meet her at multiple agency offices to obtain her delayed birth certificate; we then went to two separate Motor Vehicle Division Offices. The first one did not issue same-day photo IDs, and the other initially denied her request. The office rejected her delayed Navajo birth certificate, until I was able to intervene and demonstrate to them that it was an acceptable document. The system failed to consider her reality as a Navajo woman and failed to value her as a voter. Fortunately, she was persistent in exercising her right to vote, but not all voters are, nor should they have to be.

"This example helps explain why voting can be difficulty for Native American voters. Turnout for Native Americans is the lowest in the country, as compared to other groups. While a number of issues contribute to the low voter turnout, a study conducted by the Native American Voting Rights Coalition found that low levels of trust in government, lack of information on how and where to register and to vote, long travel distances to register or to vote, low levels of access to the internet, hostility toward Native Americans, and intimidation are obstacles. Isolating conditions such as language barriers, socioeconomic disparities, lack of access to transportation, lack of residential #addresses, lack of access to #mail, and the digital divide limit Native American political participation. Changes to voting processes further frustrate the ability of Native Americans to vote."

Read more:
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/voting-rights/how-the-native-american-vote-continues-to-be-suppressed/

#RightToVote #VoterSuppression