William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice
Abstract
This Article addresses threats to the right to vote that have arisen since 2018, when voter suppression efforts were key to denying Stacey Abrams, the Black Democratic nominee, victory over Republican Brian Kemp in the Georgia gubernatorial race, while Kemp, in administering his own election while Georgia’s Secretary of State, “laid out a chilling blueprint of voting suppression for other states to follow.”
This Article begins by examining the early Republican voter intimidation tactics that resulted in a consent decree, as these can be viewed as part of a continuum to the present day. It discusses the two U.S. Supreme Court cases, in 2013 and 2021, that have effectively nullified the Voting Rights Act. It examines the actions and rhetoric of President Donald Trump, which have had the effect of supersizing Republican voter suppression efforts. It shares the examples of unprecedented state actions in 2021 to block the ballot box. Finally, it discusses the feeble Democratic congressional efforts to prevent and reverse trends that threaten our very democracy.