Eff Gerry and Voter ID
idk if you like them
When I wrote about the electoral college shenanigans last week, and when I posted on IG a link to a story of the state of North Carolina removing almost 750,000 voters (747k) citing ineligibility, a really smart college student asked me a question— How can they do that?
My response…because they can and who is going to stop them. The court?
But painful jokes aside, that is where we are as a society. Especially areas with a higher concentration of Black and Brown voters, one group is doing everything they can to make that number as low as they possibly can.
Before getting to present day and as you have learned from me by now— I want to share a little racial history that is now quite present day.
In 1965 the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA)was passed to address decades of systemic voter suppression, particularly against Black Americans in the South. After the Civil War, even though the 15th Amendment theoretically granted African Americans the right to vote, various discriminatory practices—like literacy tests, poll taxes, and outright violence—prevented Black people from exercising that right. The VRA was a cornerstone of the civil rights movement, designed to enforce the 15th Amendment and dismantle those barriers. It specifically outlawed literacy tests and provided federal oversight of voter registration in areas where tests had been used to disenfranchise voters. This helped empower millions of Black Americans to vote, shifting political power in the country and advancing racial justice.
A key provision of the VRA was Section 5, which established the concept of pre-clearance. Under this rule, certain states and localities with a history of discriminatory voting practices—mostly in the South—had to obtain approval from the federal government (specifically the Department of Justice) before making any changes to their voting laws or procedures. This ensured that proposed changes, such as moving polling places or altering district boundaries, were not designed to disenfranchise minority voters. Pre-clearance was instrumental in curbing discriminatory practices and protecting the political rights of Black and brown voters for decades.
Basically— it was a check on people trying to keep us from participating. You couldn’t just..idk wait until a month or two before an election and decide a group of people can’t fill out a ballot OR create fun and creative maps that dilute the vote of Black and brown people.
Efforts to roll back voting rights have intensified in recent years, often targeting communities of color. The most significant blow came in 2013 with the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder. The Court ruled that pre-clearance (that check on racism) was outdated, effectively gutting Section 5.
The Chief Justice was like— guys we have a Black guy as president racism is dead (RIP) and pre-clearance worked SO WELL we don’t need it anymore.
Chief Justice Roberts apparently doesn’t use an umbrella when it rains because one day he used one and didn’t get wet. Same energy.
The ruling opened the door for states with histories of discrimination to RUN IT BACK and implement restrictive voting laws without federal oversight. Since then, many states have introduced voter ID laws, reduced early voting, and closed polling places in predominantly Black and brown neighborhoods, actions that have made it harder for these communities to vote.
In 2021, another Supreme Court decision, Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee, further weakened the VRA by making it more difficult to challenge voting restrictions under Section 2 of the Act, which prohibits discriminatory voting practices. So now not only can you do whatever to keep us from voting… now we want to make it harder to challenge when you do it.
So like I said to the student— who is going to stop them? These rulings have emboldened efforts to suppress the vote of marginalized groups, undermining the democratic protections that the Voting Rights Act was designed to ensure.
And the whole argument on ineligible voters, illegal voters, illegal votes…etc it is all coded language to say non-white people shouldn’t be able to participate in democracy and it should be challenged. Look at the 2020 election and all the areas where votes were challenged. Notice anything?
Same with YESTERDAY— the orange kool-aid man was again saying specific cities are ‘out of control’
When we vote, it is cheating apparently. But thanks to the courts…it is becoming more and more restricted.
It isn’t all dark, there are people like Marc Elias and his org Democracy Docket that are all over it.
170 cases. I wish I could work even part time on that team because it is such an important issue for the reasons mentioned above.
For now, keep your eyes open for the nonsense and be mindful of how we got here. In the both sides narrative some people like to uphold— at least one isn’t selecting who gets to vote.
Voting restrictions are racism.