By Brennan Center
Photos: YouTube Screenshots
The Voting Rights Act was the nation’s most effective civil rights law — until the Supreme Court gutted it in 2013. In Shelby County v. Holder, the Court claimed that discriminatory voting rules were a thing of the past, and as proof, it cited the fact that turnout rates between white and nonwhite voters were the same.
A major new Brennan Center study shows that the Supreme Court got it wrong.
Shelby County made it easier for states and localities to enact restrictive voting laws and policies that disproportionately burdened voters of color — the kinds of rules the Voting Rights Act used to prevent. According to the new study1, the largest and most comprehensive of its kind, these changes widened the turnout gap between white and Black voters. In fact, in the 2022 midterm election, Shelby County cost hundreds of thousands of votes from Americans of color in counties formerly covered by part of the Voting Rights Act.
The harmful impacts of the Court’s decision are clear, as is the need to restore the Voting Rights Act. And last week, lawmakers reintroduced the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act — a bill that would do just that.
Tell Congress: Pass the John Lewis Act now.
Without stronger federal protections against racial discrimination in voting, we will likely continue to see the racial turnout gap widen. Our researchers found that the racial turnout gap in areas previously covered by the Voting Rights Act grew nearly twice as fast as in comparable parts of the rest of the country. The John Lewis Act would once again require states with a history of discriminatory voting policies to “preclear” new voting laws with the federal government.
Americans of color deserve the same access to the ballot box as white Americans. But without strong legislation, the turnout gap between white voters and voters of color may continue to grow. It’s time to right the wrong of the Supreme Court’s disastrous Shelby County decision. Tell Congress to restore the Voting Rights Act.
