Voting rights are under attack — they must be protected and strengthened
By Reya Kumar | December 1On Monday, a federal appeals court dealt a grievous blow to the Voting Rights Act, which has protected the voting rights of minorities since it was passed in 1965. The VRA has faced many challenges through the years and was considerably weakened in 2013. The Shelby County v. Holder decision ended the preclearance provision in Section 5 of the VRA — which required states to receive approval for new voting laws from the Department of Justice if they had a history of discriminatory voting practices. Preclearance was first upheld by the Supreme Court in 1966 and has been called the “heart” of the VRA.