Nearly 1700 Polling Places Closed, Since Supreme Ct Weakened Voting Rights Act In 2013
"Democracy for some, but not for all’: Report reveals nearly 1,700 polling places closed since Supreme Court weakened Voting Rights Act. (VRA 1965). Sept. 10, 2019. Raw Story/Common Dreams. Excerpts:
..Civil rights advocates said Tuesday that The U.S. Supreme Court must restore a key provision of the Voting Rights Act (1965) after a sweeping new report showed how the court’s decision led to the closure of nearly 1,700 polling places across the American South. The Leadership Conference Education Fund’s study, “Democracy Diverted,” revealed Tuesday that nearly 1,200 of the polling places were closed between the 2014 and 2018 midterm elections, “underscoring the scale of this assault on U.S. democracy.”
The group is the research and education arm of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Under Law, the nation’s largest coalition of civil rights groups. “We must recognize that closures are taking place at alarming speed amid broader efforts to prevent people of color from voting,” said Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference. “And meanwhile, states are under no obligation to evaluate the discriminatory impacts of such closures. This is exactly why we need to restore the Voting Rights Act and all of its protections.”
In its 2013 ruling on Shelby County vs. Holder, the Supreme Court invalidated Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. The provision mandated that voting precincts and counties with a history of racial discrimination must seek “preclearance” or approval of any changes in voting rules that could affect minority voters’ access to the polls.
..States across the South have shuttered hundreds of polling locations in the wake of the decision, with many of the closures in counties heavily populated by black and Latinx voters. Texas, Arizona, and Georgia were the worst offenders between 2012 and 2018..Texas alone closed 750 locations, and 13 out 15 counties in Arizona—a state where 30 percent of the population is Latinox—shuttered polling places. Maricopa County, where 31 percent of residents are Latinx, closed more locations than any of the 757 counties the Leadership Conference examined.
“Without Section 5 of the VRA, we cannot assess the impact these mass closures have on communities of color,” the group said. In Georgia, where nearly a third of the population is African American, seven counties were left with a single polling place. Voters in Warren County, which is 61 percent black, saw 83 percent of their polling locations shut down while Lumpkin County closed 89 percent of its polling places...
More, https://www.rawstory.com/2019/09/democracy-for-some-but-not-for-all-report-reveals-nearly-1700-polling-places-closed-since-supreme-court-weakened-voting-rights-act/
- The Voting Rights Act of 1965, VRA, https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/the-voting-rights-act The Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965 to ensure state and local governments do not pass laws or policies that deny American citizens the equal right to vote based on race. As the leading democracy of the world, the U.S. should work to keep voting free, fair, and accessible. That’s why the Voting Rights Act is so important. It makes sure every citizen, regardless of their race, has an equal opportunity to have a say and participate in our great democracy.
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned a key provision of the Voting Rights Act in 2013, removing a critical tool to combat racial discrimination in voting. Under Section 5 of the landmark civil rights law, jurisdictions with a history of discrimination must seek pre-approval of changes in voting rules that could affect minorities. This process, known as “preclearance,” blocks discrimination before it occurs. In Shelby County v. Holder, the Court invalidated Section 4 — which determines the states and localities covered by Section 5 — arguing that current conditions require a new coverage formula. Since the ruling, several states previously covered under preclearance moved to restrict voting rights...
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He is factual and direct and. He also understands that people are busy and overwhelmed by information and that our attention spans are getting a bit frayed. He leaves you with enough to know what is pertinent and you can research more from there. Plus, if you send a link of the video shorts to somebody, they are more likely to watch it all the way.
So, bravo and kudos to Robert Reich for cramming important and vital information into all those summary videos like that. He is helping our cause and, gee, wouldn't it be nice to have people in government on his level of excellence again? 
It is great to have him on our side.
Share his videos and channel with everyone you can because the content is focused on what matters now.
is governed by *FULL DEMOCRACY*, according to another article.
- Democracy Index by regime type. The following table gives the number and percentage of countries and the percentage of the world population for each regime type in 2018: (SEE Graph in LINK below)
*Full democracies 8 < s 20 12.0 4.5
Flawed democracies 6 < s ≤ 8 55 32.9 43.2
Hybrid regimes 4 < s ≤ 6 39 23.4 16.7
Authoritarian regimes s ≤ 4 53 31.7 35.6
World population refers to the total population of the 167 countries covered by the Index. Since this excludes only microstates, this is nearly equal to the entire estimated world population. >MORE, DEMOCRACY INDEX: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index
>More, https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016238362
