'Voting rights gave you power:' The Voting Rights Act turns 60. Will its promise endure?
Civil rights activists fought for the Voting Rights Acts 60 years ago. Some worry the law's protections are now at risk.
WASHINGTON ‒ On the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, a law that promised millions of Americans the power to vote, civil right lawyers and scholars warn those rights are in danger again.
The Trump administration and some Republican-led state legislatures are working to change voting rights protections that have stood for decades.
Republicans say they’re protecting against voter fraud and ensuring the integrity of election systems. Voting rights advocates say they're undermining the promises of the Voting Rights Act and threatening the American system itself.
“Democracy is in crisis,’’ said Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, a civil rights organization. “Sixty years after the Voting Rights Act transformed America’s democracy, the promise is again under threat.”
Voting rights advocates, experts and lawmakers are marking the Aug. 6 anniversary with panels and programs. They have also pressed Congress to support federal voting rights legislation named after the late civil rights icon Georgia Rep. John Lewis.
The law helped all voters, not just Black voters and not just those in the South, said Janai Nelson, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
“I’m hopeful that American people will see how important those protections are for all of us," said Nelson, whose organization has challenged restrictive voting bills in the courts. “I think that many people felt that this law was there because the South, and the South only, was a rogue actor.''
‘Needs to be recognized for what it’s achieved’
In the decades since the Voting Rights Act was signed into law Aug. 6, 1965, by President Lyndon B. Johnson, civil rights activists said it has helped increase the number of Black voters and in some places led to the election of record numbers of Black leaders.
“It needs to be recognized for what it’s achieved,” said Courtland Cox, a veteran of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, noting that there are Black mayors now in several major cities, including Washington, Los Angeles and New York.
Voting rights advocates also noted the historic bid of Kamala Harris, who was the first woman to serve as vice president and in 2024 became the first woman of African American and Asian American descent to run for president.
They point to New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a Democratic congressional leader, and the influential South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn.
At one point in 2025, a record number of Black women served in state legislatures, according to a report by Higher Heights and the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.
“There’s more to do," Cox said. “The more to do is not about voting, it’s about exercising power."
'Voting rights gave you power'
Six decades ago, civil rights activists braved violence to mobilize Black people, particularly in the South, to register and vote. Those efforts led to the Voting Rights Act, often called the crown jewel of the Civil Rights Movement, which helped protect against discriminatory laws, including some that required Black voters to pass literacy tests or pay poll taxes to vote.
The act was probably more important than anything that happened during the movement, Cox of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee said.
“At best, civil rights gave you access,” he said. “Voting rights gave you power."
Black voters in Georgia are credited with helping send two Democrats to the U.S. Senate and helping Joe Biden, the Democrat presidential candidate, win in 2020 in the conservative state.
“We have some real sway in the South," said Dann J. Broyld, associate professor in African American History at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. “There’s no question that Black people can determine an election."
From bipartisan support to backlash
For years, the act had mostly bipartisan congressional support, including when it was reauthorized in 2006. But more recent voting rights legislation, including the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, have stalled in Congress along party lines. The bill would, among other things, restore provisions in the Voting Rights Act requiring approval for election changes.
“I’m very disappointed with the ways in which Congress kind of keeps Black people on the hamster wheel to get this thing renewed,’’ Broyld said. “It’s going to take some people who believe in democracy and believe in not abridging people’s right to vote."
Civil rights leaders are also concerned about other efforts to dilute the law and restrict access to the polls in some states.
Several states proposed more restrictive laws soon after the U.S. Supreme Court's Shelby v. Holder ruling in 2013 eliminated a provision of the Voting Rights Act that required jurisdictions with a history of discrimination to get federal approval before making election changes.
Advocates believe the backlash is a response, at least in part, to increasing Black political power and the 2008 election of Barack Obama, the nation’s first Black president.
'We fight back'
Some advocates worry that not enough attention has been paid to threats against voting rights protections.
“It’s hard for people to pay attention in the midst of this chaos,” said Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center Action Fund.
Goss Graves and other activists point to what they call efforts by the Trump administration to dismantle some civil rights gains.
Meanwhile, she said, people should push back against the Republican’s SAVE Act. The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility would, among other things, require voters to show proof of citizenship in person for federal elections. Noncitizens are already blocked from voting in federal elections.
“It’s going to be up to all of us to ensure that the SAVE Act continues to die in Congress and that we fight back," she said.
Republicans defend the legislation.
“In order to preserve this republic, we must uphold what it means to be able to vote in a U.S. election," Texas Rep. Chip Roy, who sponsored the bill, said in a statement.
But Sen. Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, slammed the GOP for trying to restrict access to representation, including efforts in Texas to redo congressional district maps that would give Republicans an advantage.
“That is a direct assault on the voices of African Americans and direct assault on all that John Lewis stood for,” Booker said.
'We can’t just vote and sit down’
Booker and other Senate Democrats recently ramped up efforts to focus on voting rights protections, including reintroducing the Lewis' voting rights bill.
Democrats in the House also continue to introduce federal voting rights bills despite little chance of passage in the GOP-controlled chamber.
“We are unfortunately facing the same struggle for voting rights," said Georgia Rep. Nikema Williams, who introduced a package of voting rights bills August 5. “The tactics of voter suppression may look different, but the intent remains the same.’’
Cox said it’s important to take the fight to protect voting rights to the next level, including more political organizing.
“We need to be smarter, we need to do things differently,’’ he said. “We can’t just vote and sit down.’’