Forget Kanye: Minority Voter Suppression is on the March

Abstract

As evidenced by the actions of Georgia's secretary of state leading up to the state's 2018 gubernatorial race, as well as many other examples, suppression of minority voters appears to have only grown since 2016. This voter suppression has been facilitated by the U.S. Supreme Court effectively eviscerating, in its 2013 Shelby County vs. Holder decision, the Voting Rights Act. Since that decision, what Justice Ginsburg, in dissent, characterized as "second-generation barriers to minority voting rights" have proliferated, largely unchecked by the courts. This article reviews the Shelby County decision, and examines the new threats to voting rights that have flourished in the states since 2013, in many ways obscured by the daily circus that is the Trump presidency.

Keywords: Voting, voter suppression, Voting Rights Act, racial discrimination

JEL Classification: H10, J18, Z18