On March 7, 1965, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Chairman John Lewis led hundreds of activists across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in a march for voting rights for people of color. They were met at the end of the bridge by a wall of state troopers, who proceeded to attack the marchers with nightsticks, tear… Read more
Tag: Voting Rights Advancement Act
A Voting Rights Victory in the House
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Back in June, we reflected on how the Supreme Court’s 2013 ruling in Shelby County v. Holder rolled back key parts of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and led to rampant voter suppression. Now the House of Representatives has taken a major step towards restoring voting rights protections. On Friday, the House of Representatives voted 228-187 to… Read more
Shelby, Six Years Later
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Activists across the country are taking to the streets this week to mark the six-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder. The decision, handed down on June 25, 2013, stripped the Voting Rights Act of 1965 of its enforcement powers, allowing voter suppression to continue to plague our democracy without repercussions.… Read more
Move to Expand: The Renewed Fight for Voting Rights
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Voter suppression has long been part of our election system. Despite our best efforts to fix it, there always seem to be strategies in place (gerrymandering, strict voter ID laws, or polling place closures, etc.) to keep people from practicing their right to vote. Part of this recent wave of disenfranchisement comes as a result… Read more