“And if you have an umbrella over your head in a thunderstorm and you’re not getting wet, it doesn’t mean that you remove the umbrella and still that you won’t get wet.”
- Former Attorney General Eric Holder on the Shelby County decision
”By the 21st century, most legal restrictions on voting had disappeared, but surprising challenges developed.
Shelby County v. Holder and
Voter Suppression
In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled
in Shelby County v. Holder that the
formula used in the Voting Rights
Act of 1965 to determine which
states and jurisdictions needed
to pre-clear changes to voting
procedures with the federal
government was no longer valid. As a result, states and
jurisdictions that previously needed to get approval from
the Department of Justice to make changes to election laws
and procedures were no longer required to do so. Critics
feared that the decision would clear the way for voter
suppression efforts in many states.
- United States Department of Justice
Multilingual ballots.
Under the Voting Rights Act, ballots and other voting materials are required to be offered in multiple languages where there is a substantial population of residents who are not proficient in English and speak certain minority languages. Nineteen cities and towns in Massachusetts, including Quincy, currently meet the threshold for multilingual ballots.
Expanded Voting Options
The Election of 2020
Because of the COVID pandemic, voting options
were expanded to allow safe and convenient
registration, early and mail-in voting, drop boxes
for ballots, and drive-in voting in some states.
Defeated former President Donald Trump alleged
fraud. In the most careful election review in
American history, courts found no significant
evidence of fraud.
- Phil Roeder
Insurrection
The violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on
January 6, 2021 was an attempt to prevent
certification of a presidential election. Many
Americans became concerned about the future
of democracy. In 2022, legislation was approved
by the Massachusetts General Court to preserve
increased early and mail-in voting options. In
some other states, a determined effort began to
reduce voting options.
- Wikipedia Commons