This year, we celebrate the 61st anniversary of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), which aimed to prevent all forms of government (federal, state, and local) from creating harmful barriers to voting for Black and Brown people. The VRA, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on August 6, 1965, protects voters against voter intimidation, racial gerrymandering, and prohibits discrimination in voting based on race, color, or language-minority status.
In May, the Republican-led U.S. Supreme Court weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the law that guaranteed the right to vote to every eligible American and protected the vote of Black and Brown voters. Its ruling also impacts racial gerrymandering, because it legalized racial discrimination in the drawing of electoral maps.
Democratic lawmakers and voting rights advocates recently gathered at the North Carolina General Assembly to reflect on the legacy of the Voting Rights Act, the current challenges to voting rights, and how to move forward in the face of Republican attempts to disenfranchise North Carolinians.
Democratic House Minority Leader Robert Reives, spoke about the reluctance of NCGA Republicans to pass the long-overdue state budget, all while easily passing legislation that aimed to weaken the voting power of marginalized communities. Reives also spoke about how the state auditor – Dave Boliek – has been given power over the North Carolina Board of Elections, the only state auditor in the country to hold this power.
“At the president’s request, the Republican leaders in the state House and in the state Senate ran us back to session so that we could further gerrymander the most gerrymandered maps in the entire United States,” said Robert Reives.
Legislation that will make it harder to vote and suppress marginalized voters is rampant in our state currently, such as House Bill 958. HB 958 was recently passed by the Republican-led General Assembly and is on its way to the desk of Gov. Josh Stein to sign or veto.
“I will always defend your right to vote, [the bill] makes it harder for you to vote, introduces unnecessary chaos into our elections and invites sore losers to try to overturn an election they lost,” said Gov. Josh Stein.
In addition to state-level suppression efforts, the SAVE America Act, a federal large-scale voter suppression bill is being pushed by the Trump administration. The SAVE America Act would require all eligible American voters to provide a birth certificate and a passport to register or re-register to vote. If passed, more than 5 million North Carolinians will lose their ability to vote due to cost and logistical barriers.
“The law provides no transition period for these drastic changes,” wrote Paul Cox and Katelyn Love in a commentary piece for NC Newsline. “Typically, when the government makes substantial changes to voting laws, a period of years is provided to allow citizens and election workers to prepare. The SAVE Act, however, would go into effect as soon as it passes, virtually ensuring chaos at the polls and voter disenfranchisement.”
