Hundreds of polling places across the South have been closed since the 2013 decision by the Supreme Court that gutted the Voting Rights Act, according to a new study by the Leadership Conference Education Fund.
According to the report, counties previously overseen under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act have closed more than 800 polling places since Shelby County v. Holder, the 2013 Supreme Court decision that rendered the provision inoperable.
“Polling place closures are a particularly common and pernicious tactic for disenfranchising voters of color,” the Leadership Conference Education Fund wrote in its report. “Once an election is conducted, there is no judicial remedy for the loss of votes that were never cast because a voter’s usual polling place has disappeared.”
