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Voting Rights

How To Combat Fear At The Polls This November

The forces of authoritarianism want us to feel knocked off center by the many ways they are trying to keep people from voting. Trump administration officials continue to suggest that ICE, FBI or other federal agents could be sent to polling places. It’s important that election volunteers and voters stay grounded to avoid playing into their hands. One danger is that fearful voters will just stay home, whether or not the administration carries out their threats. Another danger is that we resist any government interference in ways that increase the chaos, which Trump would use to bolster his narrative that the left is the real threat.

‘Real Talk’ From Kamala Harris On the Voting Rights Act Says Quiet Part Out Loud

Kamala Harris’ tone-deaf response to a question about the Voting Rights Act (VRA) at the National Urban League convention was exceptionally bad, even for the woman known for odd nervous laughter and incomprehensible “word salad” remarks. On this occasion she had one simple job to do, answer what should have been a softball question about a fundamental legal right that has been neutered by the courts but which Black people hold dear and want to see restored. Urban League President & CEO Marc Morial asked her about the status of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) and how its enforcement provisions were essentially gutted by two Supreme Court decisions

Black Organizers Are Preparing For A New Era Of Voting Rights Battles

The mobilization effort was swift once it became clear that Black Georgians stood to lose political representation. LaTosha Brown and other voting rights advocates sprang into action after Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp on May 13 called a special session to redraw the state’s congressional and legislative maps in ways that could erode Black voters’ ability to shape election outcomes. “Ultimately, pain births new possibilities,” said Brown, the co-founder of Black Voters Matter. “What we’re experiencing right now are possibilities, and we have to shift from seeing ourselves just as citizens of this nation and start seeing ourselves as mothers of the new nation — we’re the architects.”

To Trump’s Chagrin, Supreme Court Narrowly Protects Voting By Mail

With the 2026 midterm elections just four months away, the Supreme Court upheld a Mississippi law that allows mail-in ballots to be counted if they are postmarked by election day and received within five days thereafter. The court’s 5-4 ruling in Watson v. Republican National Committee leaves in place voting procedures in several states across the country. “Good news rarely comes out of this Supreme Court, but [this] ruling is a win for our democracy,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson told the Washington Post. Common Cause President Virginia Kase Solomón praised the decision because voters “shouldn’t lose their voice because of mail delays outside their control.”

Black Trade Unionists: Labor Rights And Civil Rights Are One Fight

Atlanta—Hundreds of mostly Black trade unionists from across the country packed the Hyatt Regency downtown Thursday as the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) opened its 55th International Convention with a sober assessment: The labor movement is under its most severe attack in a generation, and no one is coming to save them but themselves. At this year’s convention, the CBTU is dedicating itself to building its own political roadmap that is rooted in the understanding that labor rights and civil rights are one fight. And, according to the workers here, they are not waiting for permission.

Iran Has The Strait Of Hormuz; What Can Black People Use For Leverage?

The militant reaction to the Tennessee legislature’s recent obliteration of the state’s only predominantly Black voting district struck an emotional chord with Africans throughout the U.S. Protesters crowded into the legislative chamber, chanting, waving placards, sounding air horns, and leaving no doubts about their anger. State Representative Justin Pearson then eloquently spoke for many when he said: Today’s vote to redraw the congressional districts in Tennessee set our state back over 150 years. It was a political lynching that violated the rights of every Tennessean.

The Voting Rights Act And The Need For Movement Politics

The recent Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) decision in the case of  Louisiana v. Callais is but the latest example of a direct attack on Black people by the state. This decision is the last nail in the coffin of the Voting Rights Act, and in the aftermath of this blow, there is deep anger, fear, and confusion felt by millions of people. While those feelings are both righteous and understandable, it is still frustrating to watch as some of the fake friends who could have prevented this outcome shed fake tears alongside those who are actually being victimized.

We Are Not In A ‘Post-Constitutional America’

Russell Vought is the president of the Center for Renewing America. Vought served as Acting Director, then as the 42nd Director of the Office of Management and Budget for nearly two years during the Trump administration. Donald Trump has been sworn in twice as President of the United States; once on January 20, 2017, and again on January 20, 2025. Both times he swore a solemn oath, mandated by Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution to the best of his “…Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States". 

Supreme Court Asks Why It Shouldn’t Gut The Voting Rights Act

In what may prove to be the most consequential redistricting case to come before the Supreme Court, Louisiana is urging the court to gut the main provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) and ban any consideration of race in redistricting. Louisiana filed its brief after the high court on August 1 asked the parties whether compliance with Section 2 of the (VRA) violates the Constitution’s 14th or 15th Amendments. By framing that question, the court may be signaling its intention to eviscerate the VRA. Louisiana v. Callais reached the Supreme Court after a coalition of civil rights organizations and Black voters sought to reinstate a map that the state legislature had adopted in 2024.

He Who Pays The Piper Calls The Tune

In theory, the fundamental premise of American democracy is “one man (or person), one vote.”  Under the original concept of Jeffersonian Democracy, in most states access to the franchise was limited to White males who owned at least a fifty-acre plot of land. Towards the end of the 18th century and early into the 19th century, states began lifting the property and education requirements for White males. African Americans were legally granted the right to vote with the ratification of the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1870.  Women were granted the right to vote with the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920.

Seven Supreme Court Cases That Black Americans Should Track This Summer

From voting rights to health care to workplace equality, the U.S. Supreme Court will weigh in on a number of issues this summer that could have major implications for Black Americans. “In America, for Black people, we’ve had a long season where our rights were generally respected,” said Andrea Young, executive director of the ACLU, who has been closely following the Trump administration’s legal moves. “We have Black elected officials … Black leaders in corporate America, we have extreme poverty, but we also have thriving middle class communities. We have many areas where we have lots of highly educated black people. All of those things rest on a legal framework that allows those rights to be protected.”

Voter Suppression Makes The Racist, Anti-Worker Southern Model Possible

There is a long strand of history connecting the legacy of slavery to the political and economic landscape of the Southern United States today. As EPI’s Rooted in Racism1 series has shown, the Southern economic development model is characterized by low wages, regressive taxes, few regulations on businesses, few labor protections, a weak safety net, and fierce opposition to unions. Just like the antebellum South’s economy was built on the exploitation of enslaved labor, today’s Southern economy also relies on a disempowered and precarious workforce (Childers 2024b). This spotlight examines how political and economic suppression—dynamics in the South which are rooted in racism—have played a central role in creating and maintaining the Southern economic development model.

In The US, Voting Is A Privilege, Not A Right

As US presidential elections approach in the coming weeks, activists and organizers are ringing the alarm bells about the broad practice of voter suppression that still exists in the United States. On October 19, a group of students and activists at the historically Black institution of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia marched in protest of election measures that they compare to Jim Crow laws that enshrined racist oppression into law for decades in the US South. A 2021 law, dubbed the Election Integrity Act, has made it illegal in Georgia for anyone to hand out water to those waiting in line to vote—polling lines which can often last for several hours in the Southern heat.

Why Is New Caledonia On Fire?

New Caledonia’s capital city, Noumea, has endured widespread violent rioting over the past 48 hours. This crisis intensified rapidly, taking local authorities by surprise. Peaceful protests had been occurring across the country in the preceding weeks as the French National Assembly in Paris deliberated on a constitutional amendment that would increase the territory’s electoral roll. As the date for the vote grew closer, however, protests became more obstructive and by Monday night had spiralled into uncontrolled violence. Since then, countless public buildings, business locations and private dwellings have been subjected to arson.

2023, A Year Of Progress: Expanding Voting Rights Across The Country

This year, thanks to the tireless efforts of dedicated advocates and organizations, we’re witnessing a remarkable shift in the political landscape when it comes to expanding and protecting the right to vote for justice-impacted people. Advocacy Based on Lived Experience (ABLE) – an organization dedicated to working to engage people in the democratic process – held several community events across Kentucky, allowing attendees and lawmakers to hold discussions on pertinent issues in their communities, regardless of their political affiliation. Participants frequently discussed state legislation that would restore the right to vote to over 160,000 Kentuckians who are disenfranchised due to their history with the criminal legal system.
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