Voting

Top House Democrat calls out SEC schools for silenceCampaign comes as states move to redraw voter mapsHakeem Jeffries, the top US House Democrat, has amplified calls for Black athletes to boycott public universities in states that have moved to limit voting rights, saying an “unprecedented moment, featuring an unprecedented attack on Black political representation” requires an “unprecedented response”.Jeffries’s comments came Tuesday as the NAACP launched its “Out of Bounds” campaign. The campaign targets universities in eight states – Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Georgia – whose athletic programs generate more than $100m in revenue. Those eight states have moved to draw new voter maps after the supreme court’s Louisiana v Callais decision severely weakened the Voting Rights Act. Continue reading...

Eight southern states have moved to draw new maps after Callais decision, severely weakening the Voting Rights ActThe NAACP on Tuesday launched a campaign urging Black athletes, their families, alumni and fans to boycott athletic programs of public universities in states that “have moved to limit, weaken or erase Black voting representation”.In the announcement of the “Out of Bounds” campaign, the civil rights giant name-checked eight states – Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Georgia – whose flagship public athletic programs generate more than $100m in annual revenue. Each of those states has moved to draw new maps to limit Black voting representation, following the supreme court’s Louisiana v Callais decision severely weakening the Voting Rights Act. Continue reading...

The US supreme court demolished the 1965 Voting Rights Act when it ruled in Louisiana v Callais in April that states can’t consider race in redistricting. Southern states from Tennessee to Alabama have rushed to erase majority Black districts, sparking chaos for the midterm elections. Kai Wright talks with Stacey Abrams, voting rights activist and former Georgia house minority leader, about the fallout from the decision and why she thinks the way forward is still through engaging more voters to participate in democracy: ‘They have fractured communities and said we’re going to scatter these seeds. Our job is to grow.’ Continue reading...

People came to Montgomery by bus, car and plane to march on the state capitol with local and national leaders Thousands of people from across the country descended on Montgomery, the capital of Alabama, on Saturday. They arrived by bus, by car and by plane to gather for the All Roads Lead to the South rally, following the supreme court’s Louisiana v Callais decision last month, which essentially gutted the Voting Rights Act and severely limited protections against voting discrimination.Organized by a coalition of national and local civic engagement groups, the rally took place outside the Alabama state capitol building, in the same plaza where the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches – three nonviolent demonstrations in support of Black voting rights – are enshrined. Continue reading...

The US supreme court dealt a devastating blow to the 1965 Voting Rights Act when it ruled in Louisiana v Callais in April that states cannot consider race in redistricting. Southern states from Tennessee to Alabama have rushed to erase majority-Black districts, sparking chaos for the midterm elections. Kai Wright talks to Stacey Abrams, a voting rights activist and former Georgia house minority leader, about the fallout from the decision, and why, despite it all, she still believes the way forward lies in engaging more voters to participate in democracy. ‘They have fractured communities and said we’re going to scatter these seeds. Our job is to grow,’ she saysSupport the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod Continue reading...

Mississippi politicians are threatening to redraw the district of Bennie Thompson, the state’s lone Democrat in CongressThe supreme court decision that effectively gutted the Voting Rights Act (VRA) “was red meat to the Republican legislators of the south” the US House representative Bennie Thompson said.Conservative lawmakers in Mississippi, where Thompson is both the state’s lone Black and only Democratic congressional representative, have used the opportunity to explicitly target him, threatening to redraw the second congressional district, that he represents. Continue reading...

Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee and more are pushing to eliminate Democratic districts after supreme court rulingUS southern states are rushing to redraw congressional maps to eliminate Democratic districts and dilute the influence of Black voters in electing candidates, a bare-knuckled blitz occurring even in some states where voting in congressional primaries has begun, and prompted by the US supreme court’s decision gutting section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.Tennessee Republicans have already enacted a new map, carving up the majority Black city of Memphis into three different congressional districts to get rid of the state’s lone Democrat in Congress. Louisiana, the state at the center of the supreme court’s Voting Rights Act decision, is on the brink of implementing a new map that would eliminate the seat of one of the state’s two Black Democrats in Congress. Alabama has successfully petitioned the US supreme court to allow it to eliminate a district currently represented by a Black Democrat. Instead, it will use a map this cycle that a court previously ruled was intentionally drawn to discriminate against Black voters. Continue reading...

Organizers, including Selma foot soliders, say ruling is latest chapter in long battle over Black disenfranchisement in USThe supreme court’s recent decision to gut the Voting Rights Act is an affront to everyone who marched, bled and died to make that law possible, civil rights activists said.“When we look at the supreme court’s action against the Voting Rights Act, it’s really a kneecap – a way to discriminate, to silence voters who fought so hard for this right,” said Sheyann Webb-Christburg, who, at eight years old, marched with civil rights leaders in Selma, Alabama, in 1965. Continue reading...