Voter Suppression, Ohio Politics, African American Vote, Black Vote, Voting Rights Act, KOLUMN Magazine, KOLUMN

Supreme Court Ruling On Ohio Voter Purge Will Have Long-Range Impact on Black Votes – Atlanta Black Star

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Supreme Court Ruling On Ohio Voter Purge Will Have Long-Range Impact on Black Votes – Atlanta Black Star

It’s an expertly constructed trailer, too, opening with a shot of a buzzing florescent light before spending a long time in a blue-tinted room with grey-tinted actors Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis. Freeman plays Black Panther sidekick Everett K. Ross and Serkis plays Black Panther nemesis Ulysses Klaue, but the important thing is that every ounce of color has been sucked out of cinematographer Rachel Morrison’s frame, paving the way for a Wizard of Oz-style reveal of the fictional African nation of Wakanda.
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Voter Suppression, Ohio Politics, African American Vote, Black Vote, Voting Rights Act, KOLUMN Magazine, KOLUMN

Voter Suppression, Ohio Politics, African American Vote, Black Vote, Voting Rights Act, KOLUMN Magazine, KOLUMN

Voter Suppression, Ohio Politics, African American Vote, Black Vote, Voting Rights Act, KOLUMN Magazine, KOLUMN


The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the Civil Rights Movement on August 6, 1965, and Congress later amended the Act five times to expand its protections. Designed to enforce the voting rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, the Act secured voting rights for racial minorities throughout the country, especially in the South. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the Act is considered to be the most effective piece of civil rights legislation ever enacted in the country.

The Act contains numerous provisions that regulate election administration. The Act’s “general provisions” provide nationwide protections for voting rights. Section 2 is a general provision that prohibits every state and local government from imposing any voting law that results in discrimination against racial or language minorities. Other general provisions specifically outlaw literacy tests and similar devices that were historically used to disenfranchise racial minorities.

The Act also contains “special provisions” that apply to only certain jurisdictions. A core special provision is the Section 5 preclearance requirement, which prohibits certain jurisdictions from implementing any change affecting voting without receiving preapproval from the U.S. Attorney General or the U.S. District Court for D.C. that the change does not discriminate against protected minorities.[10] Another special provision requires jurisdictions containing significant language minority populations to provide bilingual ballots and other election materials.

Section 5 and most other special provisions apply to jurisdictions encompassed by the “coverage formula” prescribed in Section 4(b). The coverage formula was originally designed to encompass jurisdictions that engaged in egregious voting discrimination in 1965, and Congress updated the formula in 1970 and 1975. In Shelby County v. Holder (2013), the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the coverage formula as unconstitutional, reasoning that it was no longer responsive to current conditions. The Court did not strike down Section 5, but without a coverage formula, Section 5 is unenforceable. (Wikipedia).