As the Voting Rights Act turned sixty years old on August 7, 2025, we now face very little worthy of a celebration.
In 1965, the Voting Rights Act (the Act) was signed into law, protecting the right to vote for millions of Black, brown, and other marginalized Americans. It was a victory forged by relentless organizing, protest, and even the loss of life.
Today, that protection is slipping away. And for too many communities, it’s already gone.
From Selma to Shelby
The Voting Rights Act was born out of violence and resistance—Bloody Sunday in Selma, where peaceful marchers were beaten for demanding the right to vote, shocked the nation into action. Following the enactment of the Voting Rights Act, the battle seemed to have been won, at least on the largest of fronts. The law created a semblance of fairness in access to participate in the project of democracy. At its core, the Act created a shield against the weaponization of racist anti-voting policy by requiring preclearance. Under preclearance, any state or county with a record of racial discrimination had to get federal approval before changing voting rules or district maps.
The Act killed legalized racial discrimination in voting–or so we thought.
In 2013, the Supreme Court’s Shelby County v. Holder decision dismantled that shield. Without preclearance, the door reopened to the same discriminatory tactics the Act was written to stop. What followed was not slow erosion—it was an immediate flood of new restrictions.
Old Tactics, New Packaging
| Then | Now | |
| Strict Voter ID Laws | “Literacy tests” and poll taxes. | Requirements for costly IDs that disproportionately impact poor, Black, brown, and elderly voters |
| Polling Place Closures | Assigning few, distant polling stations in Black neighborhoods. | Shutting down polling places in communities of color, creating hours-long lines and travel barriers. |
| Voter Roll Purges | “Registration purges” justified by false claims of fraud | Precision mapmaking with digital tools, surgically dividing communities for maximum partisan gain. |
| Racial Gerrymandering | Drawing districts to pack Black voters into a single district or scatter them across many to dilute their power | Precision mapmaking with digital tools, surgically dividing communities for maximum partisan gain. |
Look at Texas Right Now
In recent news, Texas lawmakers advanced district maps that slice through Black and brown neighborhoods. The drawing of the maps is done with surgical precision to ensure they are able to break apart communities in an effort to further dilute their voices. Using computer software and door-to-door level demographic data, legislators can pick and choose exactly who gets to vote for them.
Even though many people can see the racialized intent of these maps and the illegal makeup of the boundary lines, with no preclearance, legal voting rights advocates can’t intervene until after these maps have shaped elections. The goal, as ordered by President Trump, is to identify five new seats for him in Congress, and to get rid of the duly elected incumbents (the real DEI) who were chosen by many non-white Texans.
This redistricting is not unique to Texas. In North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio, courts are hearing challenges to maps that push communities of color out of competitive districts. Some of these maps have already been used in multiple election cycles before being struck down—proving that justice delayed is often justice denied.
Redistricting is not novel or new, it is just scaled up. As a part of my tasks for a former employer, I helped draw the voting district maps for the state of Kentucky. I have written in detail about this experience here, but that process involved unmasking street and door-to-door level demographic data that can be used by legislators to ensure they stay entrenched in power, whether the people like it or not. The combination of improved data collection and increasingly nefarious anti-democracy intentions is being used to surgically weaponize voting access.
The Wider Assault on the Vote
Restrictive ID laws, closed polling sites, reduced early voting, limits on vote-by-mail, intimidation at polling places—each is a brick in the same wall. Together, they tell a story: certain lawmakers believe their political survival depends on fewer people—particularly Black, brown, indigenous, and young voters—having access to the ballot.
What We Can Do Now
All hope is not lost. There are plenty of things people can do now to fight for fair voting access and restore the spirit of the Voting Rights Act.
- Push for Federal Action – Support and demand passage of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act to restore preclearance, set national voting standards, and protect against racial gerrymandering.
- Fight Suppression in the Courts – Support local and national voting rights organizations like the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Campaign Legal Center, Fair Fight Action, and Native American Rights Fund.
- Organize Locally – Show up to state redistricting hearings, county election board meetings, and voter registration drives. Public record and public pressure matter.
- Educate and Mobilize – Make sure people know their voting rights, deadlines, and ID requirements in their state—and help neighbors overcome barriers by providing them with voter education, driving them to the polls, or helping them make a voting plan.
- Document Violations – If you see intimidation or unlawful barriers at the polls, report them to the Election Protection hotline (866-OUR-VOTE).
- Register and Re-Register – Because purges happen, check your registration early and often—and encourage others to do the same.
The Anniversary Must Mean More
Today the Voting Rights Act is still law, and some pieces of the original bill remain, but without its enforcement teeth, it’s a promise unkept. With the rise of authoritarian practices under the current administration and its supporters, the anniversary should not be a ceremonial moment—it should be a rallying point to restore what was lost and strengthen protections for the future.
The struggle for the right to vote has never been a one-time victory. It has always been a fight. And if we fail to fight now, we risk returning to the same barriers that generations before us risked everything to tear down.
For this milestone anniversary, there are no candles to blow out, no songs to sing, just calls to organize and fight back. Happy birthday to us.
