Hey, hey, it's Joe. All right, listen up. We're trying a new simpler format with TPO Explains this week.

Just like our Monday-W Wednesday-Friday podcast, we're bringing our newsletter to your ears.

No fluff or chit-chat, so you'll be more informed, more hopeful, and on your way in less than 10 minutes.

Today, we're taking a brief tour through the Voting Rights Act.

With the Supreme Court's recent decision regarding Louisiana's 2024 congressional map,

you might be hearing a lot about the Voting Rights Act.

And maybe you're thinking, I don't remember that from high school civics.

What even is that? Why does it exist?

Why is everyone talking about it being weakened?

Let's get into it.

So what is the Voting Rights Act? The Voting Rights Act, VRA, prohibits racial discrimination in voting.

It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965 to enforce the 15th Amendment,

which gave everyone the right to vote regardless of race.

You might be wondering, if we had the 15th Amendment, why did we need the VRA? Because the amendment

alone wasn't enough. The 15th was ratified in 1870, so it existed for almost a century, but went largely unenforced.

African Americans in the South face tremendous obstacles to voting.

Think literacy tests, poll taxes, or being forced to recite the entire Constitution.

The VRA gave the federal government authority and tools to intervene in unjust

state voting practices, an unprecedented move of federal intervention in state governing. And the

result was immediate. By the end of 1965, a quarter of a million new black voters were

registered. The Act has received overwhelming bipartisan support,

getting reauthorized four times, while also being highly challenged throughout the years.

...