A key part of the Voting Rights Act isn’t law anymore.
The Supreme Court struck down a provision in the civil-rights era law that requires some states and counties to get federal approval of any new voting laws.
Florida’s NAACP said it’s a huge defeat.
Because of evidence of voter discrimination in the past, five Florida counties used to have to clear any new voting law with the federal government. However, as of this week, no state or county in the country has to do that anymore.
Civil rights groups said the provision was a way to protect minority voters from lawmakers looking to restrict access to the polls.
Adora Obi Nweze, the Florida Chapter president of the NAACP, said the Supreme Court ruling is “a step back,” but her organization will not stop fighting restrictive voting laws.
“We will require we roll up our sleeves and get busy making sure that our governor, our state legislators and our congresspersons understand the role each of them has in ensuring that this decision does not throw us back to the 60s,” she said.
Nweze said just two years ago Florida passed a voting law that made it harder for minorities to vote, and the Voting Rights Act helped stop part of it.
The Supreme Court ruled the formula used to decide which states should be subject to that part of the Voting rights Act is outdated.
