(ProsperNews.net) – Civil rights campaigners are warning of threats to voting rights in 2024, a critical election year. The row between Democrats and Republicans resurfaced late last year and dates back to early 2022 when celebrities and famous figures, including University of Alabama head football coach Nick Saban, joined calls for lawmakers to pass sweeping legislation to maintain voting processes adopted during the coronavirus pandemic, such as widespread mail-in voting.
The Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act would have expanded early voting and mail-in ballot access, as Democrats accused Republicans of attempting to limit black and minority participation by requiring identification at polling stations, among other policies. Passed in the House of Representatives, it fell in the Senate, but the debate reawakened last summer when Democrats again accused the GOP in several states of threatening voting rights.
For example, the state of Alabama undertook redistricting that Democrats said was a deliberate ploy to impact the black vote in the Yellowhammer State. The US Supreme Court struck down Alabama’s new districts in the Allen v Milligan case, and in his ruling, Chief Justice John Roberts said the state had attempted to “remake” the provisions of the landmark Voting Rights Act. Fast-forward to November 2023, and the issue came to the fore again with a series of bills in a group of southern states.
In Arkansas, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) challenged an earlier ruling by US District Judge Lee Rudofsky, who declared that only the US Attorney General and Justice Department could challenge redistricting laws, not private individuals.
Similarly, in Georgia, elections to the state’s Public Service Commission (PSC) were challenged because the entire population elected the five board members that oversee utilities in the Peach State, which Democrats argued resulted in few black members. Courts ruled, however, that the Voting Rights Act could not be used to challenge the board elections.
Experts say the arguments will reignite in 2024 as Republicans fight what they see as race-based redistricting.
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