EDITORS:
This month marks 10 years since the U.S. Supreme Court issued a milestone ruling that overturned the heart of the Voting Rights Act. Nine states, mostly in the South, and dozens of counties across the country with a history of voter suppression and disenfranchisement would no longer need approval from the Justice Department before making changes to voting and election procedures. A wave of voting restrictions has followed that decision, accelerating since the 2020 presidential election.
The court will issue a decision in the coming weeks in a case that could weaken another pillar of the Voting Rights Act, one intended to protect minority voting rights and minority representation in the drawing of political districts.
The Associated Press is planning an all-formats package to mark the 10 years since the court’s decision overturning the preclearance provision and to explain what’s at stake in the upcoming decision. Both cases originated in Alabama.
Here is the lineup:
TUESDAY, JUNE 6
VOTING RIGHTS ACT — A decade ago, the Supreme Court wiped away one of the most powerful tools of the Voting Rights Act that had made it extremely difficult for states with a history of discrimination to pass voting restrictions. A decision expected in the coming weeks could weaken another pillar of the landmark legislation and make it significantly harder to file challenges based on racial gerrymandering. Voting rights activists say the two decisions by conservative-leaning justices would amount to a gutting of a nearly 60-year-old law that had served as a model for voting rights around the globe. By Christina A. Cassidy and Ayanna Alexander. UPCOMING: 1,600 words, photos, graphics. An abridged version also will move.
VOTING RIGHTS ACT-LOCALIZE IT — Tips and resources for localizing the story, plus an audio Q&A with AP reporter Christina A. Cassidy.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7
VOTING RIGHTS ACT-VOICES — One lost a brother, murdered in Mississippi trying to register Black residents to vote. Another walked with Martin Luther King Jr. until his assassination. A woman who was then a teenager in Alabama felt the force of a police club and heard the fatal gunshot that led to Selma’s Bloody Sunday march. They are among the last witnesses to an era driven by tragedies and violence that led – eventually – to the passage of the Voting Rights Act. Now they and others reflect on the slow weakening of a law that had promised equality for all. By Gary Fields. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos, video.
With:
— VOTING RIGHTS ACT-VOICES-STEPHEN SCHWERNER — NEW YORK: An interview with Stephen Schwerner, whose brother, Mickey, was murdered along with two others during the Freedom Summer drive to register Black voters in Mississippi. By Gary Fields. UPCOMING: 880 words, photos, video.
— VOTING RIGHTS ACT-VOICES-ANDREW YOUNG — ATLANTA: An interview with Andrew Young, part of Martin Luther King Jr.’s inner circle for many years. By Gary Fields. UPCOMING: 790 words, photos, video.
— VOTING RIGHTS ACT-VOICES-LUCI JOHNSON — AUSTIN, Texas: An interview with Luci Baines Johnson, who was with her father, former President Lyndon Johnson, when he signed the Voting Rights Act in 1965. By Gary Fields. UPCOMING: 750 words, photos, video.
— VOTING RIGHTS ACT-VOICES-NORMAN HILL — NEW YORK: An interview with Norman Hill, a labor organizer who was instrumental in the fight for Black voting rights and efforts to get them registered. By Gary Fields. UPCOMING: 520 words, photos, video.
— VOTING RIGHTS ACT-VOICES–JOEL FINKELSTEIN — WASHINGTON: An interview with Joel Finkelstein, who was a young lawyer when he helped write the Voting Rights Act in 1965 and attended the signing. By Gary Fields. UPCOMING: 625 words, photos, video.
— VOTING RIGHTS ACT-VOICES-DELLA MAYNOR — MARION, Ala.: An interview with Della Simpson Maynor, who was 14 when she was clubbed by police while participating in a march for voting rights in Marion, Alabama. By Kim Chandler and Gary Fields. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos, video.
— The AP
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