Thousands of eligible voters are at risk of having a more difficult time casting their ballots this November than in past years. Since the 2010 legislative elections, new voting restrictions have been passed by legislators in no fewer than 22 states.1 And voters have fewer protections against discrimination at the ballot box than in prior years.
In the summer of 2013, the Supreme Court ruled in Shelby County v. Holder, a decision that struck down an important provision of the Voting Rights Act that had protected certain voters against discrimination at the ballot box.2 Only hours after the opinion was released, the attorney general of Texas announced that his state’s strict photo ID law, which had been blocked under the now inoperative “preclearance” provision of the Voting Rights Act, would go into effect3—despite estimates that over 600,000 registered voters4 (as many as half of whom are Latino5) would not have the identification now required by Texas to vote.
