PROBLEMS AT THE POLLS Lack of federal oversight causes drastic election changes
Story and design by Kimmie Johansen
D
allas County has seen the second largest wave of polling location closures in the country since the Supreme Court ruled part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act to be unconstitutional in 2013. The Voting Rights Act was enacted by congress to combat almost a hundred
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years of voter discrimination. Before it’s implementation, black voters were largely excluded from the election process through the use of literacy tests, poll taxes, intimidation tactics and violence. In 2103, Shelby County, Alabama, filed a suit in district court seeking a judgment that section 5 and section 4(b) of the
Voting Rights Act were unconstitutional, and a permanent end to their enforcement. Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act required specific counties and states to submit any change to election procedures to a federal court. The change would be approved if “neither has the purpose nor will have the effect” to disenfranchise voters based on
