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This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.
Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of useful information in fact briefs like this one, not all of them reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

Have some states made it harder to vote since a key 2013 Supreme Court ruling on the Voting Rights Act?

By Allegra Taylor
YES

Within a year of a 2013 Supreme Court decision making a major change to voting-rights law, seven states enacted new rules tightening voting requirements.

The Court invalidated parts of the 1965 Voting Rights Act requiring "pre-clearance" from federal authorities for changes in local voting laws. Provisions singled out nine states, mostly in the South, and counties and townships elsewhere.

Conservatives laud the decision for removing a no-longer warranted intrusion into states' rights. The Brennan Center, a non-partisan think tank, says the outcome "opened the floodgates to laws restricting voting throughout the United States," and that by 2018 previously covered states "purged voters off their rolls at a significantly higher rate than non-covered jurisdictions."

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
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