Since Voting Right Act ruling, large reduction in voting sites in preclearance States

Quote:

New Report Documents 868 Polling Place Closures in Former VRA Preclearance States WASHINGTON – Today, The Leadership Conference Education Fund released its report, The Great Poll Closure, which documents how states and counties with records of voting discrimination—both current and historic—have closed hundreds of polling places since the Supreme Court in 2013 gutted the Voting Rights Act (VRA) and eliminated federal oversight of their voting changes. The report is based on a study of 381 of the approximately 800 counties that were covered by Section 5 of the VRA before the Court’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder. According to an analysis of the study, voters in these counties will have at least 868 fewer places to cast ballots in the 2016 presidential elections than they did in past elections, a 16 percent reduction. Nancy Zirkin, executive vice president of The Leadership Conference Education Fund, said, “While there are legitimate reasons to reduce polling places and processes that election officials can engage in to ensure that consolidations are implemented equitably, without the full powers of the VRA, we have no transparency and no idea why polling places are being closed or changed, nor do we have any idea how those moves effect minority voters. After Shelby, the vast majority of closures have gone unnoticed, unreported, and unchallenged.”

Linky.

So we know it is happening, but we don't have analysed reasons why or comparisons or anything like that to show it was done maliciously in any particular case.

via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/2fp2hmi