Fifty-two years ago, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was introduced and enacted to “break the grip of state disfranchisement” by prohibiting discrimination at the polls. The act also included a provision that monitored states with established histories of discriminatory voting practices, such as poll taxes and literacy tests. Those states could not implement any change or law that affected voting until the federal government reviewed the law and determined that it neither had a discriminatory purpose or effect. Shelby County v. Holder changed everything.
In his Supreme Court opinion for the case, Chief Justice Roberts reasoned that “things have changed dramatically” since the adoption of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and with that the court struck down the provision that required pre-clearance, leaving states free to change their voting laws. The impact of the decision was immediate. Within minutes, then Texas Attorney General Greg Abbot tweeted that the state’s voter ID law that had been blocked by the federal government would go into effect. In the year that followed the ruling, eight states that were previously monitored passed voting restrictions that disproportionately impacted Black and Brown voters. To date, close to 100 bills to restrict voter registration and access voting have been introduced in 31 states.
In its decision, the Supreme Court instructed Congress to come up with a modern-day formula that protects voting rights, and it has: the Voting Rights Act Reauthorization, which creates a new state coverage formula that applies to states with repeated voting rights violations in the last 25 years. To restore the promise of voter equality and restore the integrity of our elections, Congress must take up this bill and pass it into law.
The ability to vote, to have a say in the policies and people we choose to represent us, is democracy. It is far too sacred a right to allow it to become weakened over a partisan lust to win at all costs. Strict voter ID laws, race-based gerrymandering, obstacles to voter registration and a current federal investigation into debunked voter fraud claims that will only serve as a front to introduce more—and likely more severe—voter suppression laws inflict grave harm on our adopted form of governance and its integrity.
As we contemplate our country’s early battles for independence, and our national struggles to expand opportunity, equality and freedoms originally denied many Americans, it is clear that we have come too far to accept any rollbacks now. We must restore and protect every American’s access to the polls.
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