Although we are taking the 100th and 55th anniversaries as an opportunity to celebrate women's suffrage, it is nonetheless imperative to recognize that the voting rights of many individuals are far from protected- even today.

*Note that the commentary offered on this page is solely a reflection of  Shira's personal views.  

In the 2013 case Shelby County v Holder, the Supreme Court effectively gutted the foundation of the Voting Rights Act. As a reminder, the 1965 act was enacted to prohibit racial discrimination in voting. It was initially comprised of 19 sections, but the 2013 Supreme Court case gutted one of its central components- Section 5. This section required districts to obtain approval prior to altering their voting rules and procedures- a process known as 'pre-clearance' that was intended to nip discrimination in voting in the bud. However, the ruling of Section 5 as unconstitutional enabled states to more freely impose new, discriminatory voting rules.  To learn more about this case, click the button to the left. 

Building upon the destruction of 2013, the Supreme Court in July of 2021 delivered another devastating blow to the VRA. In Brnovich v the DNC, the Supreme Court ruled that two of Arizona's controversial voting laws do not violate the Voting Rights Act nor the 15th Amendment. The first law in question allows election officials to discard ballots voted out of precinct and the second criminalizes the act of delivering ballots other than one's own. While these laws were ostensibly created to prevent voter fraud, there is in fact no record of voter fraud in the state. Instead, these laws serve to disproportionately prevent minorities from voting. In a country where the majority of people prioritize voting access over prevention of voter fraud, these racist laws violate the notion of democracy that our country was founded on and the will of the modern people.