Racial Voting Rights Voting 

The racist history of voter suppression laws

According to the Brennan Center, half of the states with the highest Latino population growth passed voter suppression laws in 2016. Five years later, Texas has become the latest state to sign into law extensive restrictions that limit how and when voters can cast their ballot. By Julissa Arce, Activist, Writer, and Producer Signed by Republican Governor Greg Abbott last week, SB1 bans 24-hour voting, eliminates drive-through voting, establishes new vote-by-mail ID mandates, makes it a felony for public officials to broadly send mail-in ballots, gives partisan poll-watchers more power,…

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Voting Rights Act of 1965 Voting 

Voting Rights Act of 1965

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C.A. § 1973 et seq.) prohibits the states and their political subdivisions from imposing voting qualifications or prerequisites to voting, or standards, practices, or procedures that deny or curtail the right of a U.S. citizen to vote because of race, color, or membership in a language minority group. A product of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, the Voting Rights Act has proven to be an effective, but controversial, piece of legislation. It is considered one of the most far-reaching pieces of…

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Voter Suppression Voting 

We Must Stop Voter Suppression

By Robert Reich A crowning achievement of the historic March on Washington, where Dr. Martin Luther King gave his “I have a dream” speech, was pushing through the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965. Recognizing the history of racist attempts to prevent Black people from voting, that federal law forced a number of southern states and districts to adhere to federal guidelines allowing citizens access to the polls. But in 2013 the Supreme Court effectively gutted many of these protections. As a result, states are finding new ways to stop…

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