Rep. John Lewis's death renews urgent calls to protect voting rights.
In North Carolina, for example, the Republican-controlled state Legislature passed a law in 2013 — immediately after the Supreme Court ruling — that, among other things, scrapped some of the period for early voting, required a photo ID for all residents to vote, and ended same-day voter registration. Three years later, a federal appeals court“That law would’ve been blocked to begin with, if the Voting Rights Act was in place,” Berman said.
But policymakers and advocates emphasize that restoring the full power of the Voting Rights Act is just one part of a vast set of challenges when it comes to making the ballot box equally accessible to people regardless of race, age, socioeconomic status or how able-bodied they are.
Of paramount concern today is how the coronavirus pandemic is both creating new obstacles and intensifying old ones for citizens to get to the voting booth on Election Day this November. In particular, the massive increase in the percentage of voters intending to cast their ballots by mail is a serious logistical challenge that is being complicated further by misinformation campaigns about the security of voting by mail.
Young African Americans hold signs during a demonstration at the courthouse in Selma, Ala., Feb. 5, 1965 protesting voter registration. More than 400 of them were arrested and marched off to a compound.Experts say that before the pandemic began, an estimated 25 percent of voters would’ve been expected to vote by mail, but now they estimate that 60 percent or more will try to cast their ballot by mail.
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