August 6 marks the Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) was signed into law on August 6, 1965, by President Lyndon Johnson. It outlawed racial discrimination in voting and established procedures to protect equal access to the vote for every American citizen.  The VRA identified the places where discrimination was most likely to occur and established a process to prevent discriminatory policies from taking effect in these places.

As a result, the number of voters of color and elected officials of color swelled. The number of registered Black voters increased from less than a million in 1965 to nearly 3.6 million in 1986. 

Due to its success, Congress reauthorized the VRA five times with strong bipartisan support. During each reauthorization, Congress held hours of hearings that demonstrated the persistence of racism in our democracy and the continued effectiveness of the VRA in combatting it.

Learn more from the National Archives

But in 2013, the Supreme Court decision "Shelby vs Holder" overturned the key provision of the VRA that triggered careful review of voting changes in political jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination in voting before they could take effect.  Since that decision, politicians in states, counties, cities, and towns across the country have passed laws and adopted practices that discriminate against voters of color and language minorities -- making it harder for them to register and more difficult to vote.