Voting rights

As Texas defends against accusations that its new political maps are discriminatory, it’s laying the groundwork to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to throw out longstanding Voting Rights Act protections.

Martin Luther King Jr. spent years before his assassination working to expand access to the ballot box. Today, advocates and lawmakers say they are fighting many of the same fights.

Independent voting rights advocates will likely try to spread the word.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors is urging the Senate to approve voting rights legislation to override new restrictions imposed by Texas and other Republican-led states.

The secretary of state’s office says it is following the legal settlement agreement it entered in 2019 after botching its first review effort. But scores of citizens are still being marked for citizenship verification — and possible removal from the rolls.

Texas is one of several GOP-led states this year that has passed new voting restrictions this year.

The Freedom to Vote Act includes provisions that are at odds with Texas' recently adopted voting law.

Voter registration drives in Kansas have slowed to a trickle while a new election law is challenged in court, but Republicans are undeterred.

As of this writing, there are four lawsuits in federal court and one in state court.

Texas Democrats made their way to the U.S. Capitol to pressure Congress into voting for federal voting protections. But politics in Washington make that less likely with each passing day.