US EditionThe Voting Rights Act Marks Its 60th Anniversary as Its Core Provisions Are Being Eroded
UNITED STATES, AUG 6 – The Voting Rights Act increased Black voter registration from 31% to 73% in the South, but recent court rulings and state laws have weakened protections, activists warn.
- In response to the violent suppression of voters in Selma, Alabama, the Voting Rights Act was enacted into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on August 6, 1965.
- The Act aimed to eliminate discriminatory practices like literacy tests and poll taxes that had disenfranchised Black voters in the South.
- Despite the Act's success in increasing Black voter registration and representation, such as more than quadrupling elected Black officials by 1980, modern challenges have emerged.
- The 2013 Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder removed federal preclearance, prompting laws restricting voting access, with the Justice Department opposing efforts to reinstate oversight.
- Sixty years later, activists warn the Voting Rights Act remains under threat and call for renewed civic engagement and federal protections to safeguard voting rights.
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Wednesday marks the 60th anniversary of the day President Lyndon Johnson walked into the U.S. Capitol and, with Martin Luther King Jr. standing behind him, signed the Voting Rights Act.
60 years later, Voting Rights Act protections for minority voters face new threats
Otis Wilson had enough with talking and decided to go to court.His Louisiana town of St. Francisville, north of Baton Rouge, had long elected alderpersons as at-large representatives for a single, townwide district. In places where elections are racially polarized, that kind of voting system can result in a white majority’s votes drowning out the ballots of voters of color, courts have found.“I filed a lawsuit because we had no Blacks at all on …
·Portland, United States
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Total News Sources110
Leaning Left25Leaning Right6Center55Last UpdatedBias Distribution64% Center
Bias Distribution
- 64% of the sources are Center
64% Center
L 29%
C 64%
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