As Black voters and other voters of color across the country face the greatest assault on their voting rights since the Jim Crow era, a growing number of states are acting to protect the right to vote and safeguard our democracy. With the passage of State Voting Rights Acts (State VRAs), states can provide key protections to their constituents that prevent and guard against discriminatory voting practices and policies.
Momentum is growing, as an increasing number of states — including California (2002), Washington (2018), Oregon (2019), Virginia (2021), New York (2022), Connecticut (2023), Minnesota (2024), and Colorado (2025) — have enacted State VRAs. Other states such as Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, and New Jersey have made progress towards enacting similar legislation in recent years. Not surprisingly, State VRAs are extremely popular. A 2024 survey showed that more than three-quarters (78%) of voters support a voting rights act in their state, with strong majorities across race and party lines.
Voters — especially Black voters and other voters of color — continue to face persistent barriers and discrimination, including:
These barriers have increased in recent years as states have enacted restrictive voting policies across the country and since the Supreme Court decisions in cases including Shelby County v. Holder and Brnovich v. DNC, which upended or eroded essential protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The Trump Administration’s Project 2025 agenda includes plans to undermine enforcement of protections against voting discrimination. Under President Trump, the Department of Justice has reversed course on long-standing positions and stopped protecting voting rights. Instead of strengthening voting protections by enacting the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, leadership in Congress is pushing anti-voter legislation that will add more barriers to the ballot. Congress’s most troubling anti-voter legislation, the SAVE Act, which would require evidence of U.S. citizenship to register to vote, has also been introduced at the state level.
State VRAs provide essential protections to promote fair participation and build a democracy that works for all, which is more critical now than ever. By enforcing comprehensive, clear standards, State VRAs prevent discrimination and expand opportunities to people disproportionately impacted by voter suppression.
Voter suppression refers to barriers that deny voting opportunities to voters of color — these tactics must be identified and addressed.
Racial vote dilution happens when districts or election systems weaken or drown out people’s voices based on their race. For example, in places where different racial or ethnic groups consistently vote differently and there is an at-large election system, voters of colors often get drowned out by the votes of a white voting majority. Protections must address election systems that deny Black voters the opportunity to elect their candidate of choice.
Preclearance programs require local governments at high risk of voting discrimination to seek approval before making changes to the voting process. This review process ensures changes won’t harm voters based on their race before they go into effect.
There must be strong protections in place against voter intimidation, deception, or obstruction at the ballot box.
Language assistance must be available for voters with limited English proficiency so every eligible voter can participate effectively.
A central public repository for election and demographic data fosters transparent, evidence-based practices in election administration.
Clear instructions guide judges to interpret laws and rules in the most pro-voter, pro-democracy way possible.
State VRAs help ensure that all voters can fairly and fully participate in our democracy, especially Black voters and other voters of color who historically have been denied this right. State VRAs give voters and community groups tools to address existing voting discrimination and to prevent it from happening in the first place. In recent years, efforts to implement discriminatory voting practices and policies have increased across the nation, and we are now seeing attacks rather than progress on voting rights at the national level, making this legislation all the more urgent and necessary.
Yes, we need them because State VRAs provide critical protections that are not ensured at the federal level.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was enacted at the federal level to protect Black voters from discriminatory Jim Crow-era voting laws, and it gave voters a mechanism to challenge these laws in federal court.
The Supreme Court has substantially weakened the Voting Rights Act, especially in recent years. In 2013, Shelby County v. Holder weakened the VRA by undercutting the preclearance program. In 2021, Brnovich v. DNC further weakened the VRA by making it more difficult to challenge discriminatory voting laws.
Congress must enact the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to restore the protections of the federal Voting Rights Act and strengthen this landmark civil rights law. Among other key provisions, the VRAA will restore the preclearance process, which will protect Black voters in many communities without the expense of lengthy, onerous litigation, and without irreparably compromising their right to vote in an election.
Still, even if the full protections of the federal VRA are restored, federal law will never be able to fully address the particular needs and threats to the right to vote in each state.
Therefore, State VRAs are still necessary tools to provide efficient, practical ways to identify and resolve barriers to equal participation in our democracy. State VRAs allow voters to protect their rights in state court instead of federal court and can make litigation more streamlined and more cost-effective for all parties.
State VRAs are state legislation, meaning they are passed by a state legislature and typically signed into law by that state’s governor. The usual process includes bill introduction by a lead sponsor (sometimes at the urging of voting right advocates), hearings, committee votes, and floor votes in both legislative chambers (most state legislatures have two), and the governor signing the bill into law. Throughout the process, a successful campaign for a State VRA is usually supported by legislative advocacy, grassroots organizing, a communications strategy, and policy review. Stakeholders — including legislators, activists, election officials and voters — can contribute to the process at any stage through lobbying, testifying, and organizing support.
Preclearance aims to stop discrimination before it occurs. It is based on the simple principle that when it comes to a matter as fundamental as the right to vote, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
State VRAs that contain a preclearance program adopt a framework to determine which local governments come under the preclearance requirement, based on a recent record of voting rights or civil rights violations or other recent evidence of racial discrimination. For local governments that come under the preclearance protection, the legislation provides a streamlined administrative process that ensures changes will not erect barriers to voting based on race before those changes go into effect. Preclearance is essentially a review and approval process that protects equitable access to the ballot box.
State VRA preclearance programs are inspired by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which was one of the most effective provisions ever designed for eradicating voting discrimination and widely considered the “heart” of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In 2013, in Shelby County v. Holder, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the framework that determined which jurisdictions were covered by the federal VRA’s Section 5 preclearance process, making the provision inoperable. Before being dismantled, Section 5 of the VRA halted thousands of discriminatory voting policies. A strong State VRA can restore and modernize this essential protection.
State VRAs provide strong protections in the local redistricting process, which happens every 10 years based on population changes identified in the census. The prohibition on vote dilution in State VRAs bans redistricting plans that weaken the voices of Black voters and other voters of color, for example by configuring districts that crack or pack communities. And State VRA preclearance programs can ensure that racially discriminatory redistricting plans are never adopted in the first place. These protections will help to ensure that Black voters and other voters of color are protected during local redistricting processes.
State VRAs can address discrimination resulting from at-large elections, where all voters in a local government like a county, town, or school district get to vote for each candidate (rather than electing candidates based on districts or wards). At-large elections can silence communities of color and deprive them of an equal opportunity to participate in the political process if a substantial minority community is unable to elect candidates of their choice because they are always outvoted by candidates preferred by the majority. State VRA protections against discriminatory vote dilution prohibit at-large elections that dilute the votes of Black voters and other voters of color.
Yes. Some state laws focus on increasing voting access through affirmative policies that set rules or practices like automatic voter registration or early voting. State VRAs, however, focus on enacting protections that make voting fairer and free from discrimination.
Voting Rights
State VRAs can provide key protections to their constituents that prevent and guard against discriminatory voting practices and policies. Learn more about LDF’s work to advance state VRAs.
LDF Original Content
A tandem approach of restoring and expanding federal voting rights legislation along with passing individual state VRAs is essential for providing the most robust voting protections for all voters.
LDF Original Content
How States with discriminatory maps have shirked their responsibilities to their constituents, paving the way for the passage of oppressive legislation.
