Category Archives: Voting Rights Act
“Black groups tell Supreme Court Ala. districts biased”
Mary Troyan reports for Gannett: “The Alabama Legislature will be further racially polarized by new district boundaries that pack more black voters into certain districts than the law requires, state black political groups told the Supreme Court last week.”
“How Ferguson exposes the racial bias in local elections”
Brian Schaffner, Wouter Van Erve and Ray LaRaja:
The conflict in Ferguson, Mo., has captured the nation’s attention and once again put race front and center in American politics. This piece, for instance, notes that while Ferguson is… Continue reading
“Shelby County v. Holder and the gutting of federal preclearance of election law changes”
Dick Engstrom has written this article in Politics, Groups, and Identities. Here is the abstract:
The preclearance provision of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act was rendered ineffective by the United States Supreme Court in 2013 in Shelby County,… Continue reading
District Court Holds Irving Texas School Board Election System Violates Voting Rights Act Section 2
You can read the 55-page opinion. It contains an interesting discussion near the end about what to do about the treatment of large non-citizen populations in Hispanic districts.
“Senate votes to allow new challenges to L.A. County board districts”
Bill to expand California Voting Rights Act awaits Gov. Brown’s signature.
Meanwhile, Fullerton sued under the CA VRA.
“Cantor Voting Rights Act Legacy is Failure to Deliver, Democrats Say”
Via Roll Call, Democrats express disappointment about Eric Cantor’s failure to follow through on a VRA fix after dancing around it for a year.
But the writing was on the wall the day the bill dropped that it was going… Continue reading
“Carl Leubsdorf: Troubling Texas voting changes face court scrutiny”
Federal Court Denies Wisconsin’s Request for Stay in Voter ID Case, Explains Basis for Decision
The federal district court in Frank v. Walker has issued this detailed ruling denying Wisconsin’s request for a stay pending appeal in the voter id case. A stay would have allowed Wisconsin to use its id law in the upcoming… Continue reading
Texas’s Unusual Defense in Voter ID Case: DOJ is Too Partisan
A reader alerted me to this filing of the state of Texas in the voter id case (particularly pages 13-23), raising an affirmative defense to DOJ’s claims that Texas’s voter id law violates section 2 of the Voting Rights Act… Continue reading
“Can the G.O.P. Ever Attract Black Voters?”
“Proposal could create more voting districts anchored by minorities”
LAT:
Minority groups seeking more influence in local government would have a potentially powerful new tool at their disposal under a proposed expansion of the California Voting Rights Act.
The way Los Angeles County — among others jurisdictions —… Continue reading
“Federal Judge Hears Ohio Early Voting Argument”
“The New Racism: This is how the civil rights movement ends”
Must read TNR cover story by Jason Zengerle on African American political power in Alabama and in the South.
Similarly, after a lawsuit was brought by the Alabama Democratic Conference and the Alabama Legislative Black Caucus, a three-judge federal court… Continue reading