June 10, 2017
Voting Rights Institute Training
2017 ACS National Convention
J. Gerald Hebert
Campaign Legal CenterBegin: 0:01
Julie Fernandes
Open Society FoundationsBegin: 26:53
Leah Aden
NAACP Legal Defense and Education FundBegin: 52:05
Justin Levitt
Loyola Law School, Los AngelesBegin: 1:20:06
The Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder effectively nullified a key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the most effective civil rights law ever enacted. As a result, attorneys and activists play a key role working with voters to protect their rights against discriminatory voting laws.
The Voting Rights Institute, a project of ACS, the Campaign Legal Center and Georgetown University Law Center, has trained approximately 1,000 lawyers and law students nationwide. This training included an overview of voting rights legislation and case law, examples of the ways in which state and local governments are infringing upon the right to vote and information for attendees who want to identify obstacles to voting and how to fix them.