State of the South: Voting Rights Under Assault Report
Among the findings:
- Voter turnout is lower in the South than any other part of the country.
- Anti-voter laws in states have led to:
- Increased criminalization of the voting process, targeting vulnerable voters and those that assist voters
- Reduced ability to vote-by-mail and cast ballots early as well
- Unfair voting maps with race discrimination challenges brought in 9 of 10 Southern states
- Felony disenfranchisement in every Southern states keeps millions from voting, including 1 in 19 Black adults.
About SOLVE
After the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 2013 decision in Shelby v. Holder — which stripped away the Voting Rights Act’s preclearance protections against attacks on voting rights in most Southern states — the burden of addressing voting discrimination fell to the Southerners most affected by discriminatory voting policies. Now, communities facing discriminatory voting laws have to file lawsuits, often after the discriminatory laws have already taken effect.
In 2013, to combat the consequences of the Shelby decision and foster community-led voting rights campaigns, the North Carolina-based Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ) launched the Southern Leadership for Voter Engagement (SOLVE) network.
In the 2010s, SCSJ partnered with communities of color and low-wealth communities throughout the South to defend and advance their political, social, environmental, and economic rights. By using the combined skills of movement lawyers, researchers, organizers and storytellers, SCSJ has helped people develop strategies to overcome obstacles and achieve their vision for their communities.
At its start, SOLVE brought together over 50 organizations, including members from colleges and universities, and over 100 affiliates involved in voting rights efforts mainly throughout the South.
We are now a network of more than 200 grassroots voting rights group from 10 Southern states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia) dedicated to protecting and expanding access to the ballot.