Voting Rights Act 1965

The statute that broke the machinery of racial vote denial in the American South

Overview

Passed after the Selma marches, the act suspended literacy tests and stationed federal examiners, but its core was the preclearance system requiring covered jurisdictions to win approval before changing election rules. Black registration in the Deep South soared within years. The Supreme Court in 2013 suspended the coverage formula as outdated, shifting enforcement to case by case litigation and renewing debate over federal protection of the franchise. The act remains the model of structural, anticipatory rights enforcement. Coverage keyed initially to low registration and turnout in the 1964 election, capturing most of the South.