The Voting Rights Act grew out of civil rights protests in the South, but the law has had far-reaching consequences across the country, from New York City to Alaska.
Its impact was mainly through Section 5 of the law, which required states with a history of discrimination at the polls to secure approval from the Justice Department before making changes to their voting procedures, a process known as “preclearance.” In a 2013 decision, the Supreme Court effectively ended the requirement. Some places outside of the South had been required to undergo preclearance, including Alaska and Arizona, as well as counties in New York, California, South Dakota and Michigan.
But Section 5 and preclearance are not the only national legacy of the law.
Section 2, at issue on Wednesday, has been used in states across the country, largely in cases in which people have claimed that they were discriminated against in voting laws or maps and that their voting power as members of minority communities was diluted. Between 1982 and 2005, Montana and South Dakota lost or settled more than five cases that hinged on Section 2, according to a New York Times study. New Mexico has lost or settled at least three cases.
A study by researchers at the University of Michigan found that between 1982 and 2021, there were 439 cases based on Section 2 that resulted in published decisions or opinions available on legal websites. About 200 of those cases came from states outside of the South.
“It kind of speaks to the magnitude of the geographic impact that the Voting Rights Act had, because even beyond preclearance, there have been Voting Rights Act suits in lots of other parts of the country,” said Justin Levitt, a law professor and voting rights expert at Loyola Marymount University.
While Section 2 cases have been brought against statewide laws and have been used to challenge the boundaries of congressional districts, the provision is often used more at the local level, such as by city councils, state legislatures and school boards.
In New York in 2017, civil rights groups incorporated Section 2 by arguing that the system of electing members to the school board of the East Ramapo Central School District in diverse Rockland County prevented Black and Latino communities from choosing members of their choice. In 2020, a federal court agreed.
Section 2 claims have been particularly critical for Native American populations. In one case, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians v. Michael Howe, the plaintiffs argue that the North Dakota state legislative map diluted the voting power of Native Americans. (The Supreme Court is now considering whether to accept the case, not on the merits of the arguments, but to weigh whether private groups and people — as opposed to the government — can sue under the Voting Rights Act.)
The law has also helped expand voting access. In 2020, the Blackfeet Nation, a reservation in Montana larger than Delaware, successfully brought a Section 2 claim against the state for only having four ballot drop-off locations across the reservation.
Nick Corasaniti is a Times reporter covering national politics, with a focus on voting and elections.
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