To the extreme right it is axiomatic: the fewer people who vote, especially those of color, the more leverage it has in national politics. And now they have a conservative Supreme Court majority to help them reduce voter turn-out even more. Last week the Fifth Circuit
let stand a restrictive voter ID law basically on the grounds that it was too late to change it even though a federal district court judge decided it was intentionally discriminatory against blacks and Hispanics and therefore unconstitutional. The district court found the law could unjustly affect 600,000 poor and minority voters in Texas. If her finding is upheld on appeal, it could trigger reimposition of Department of Justice oversight of Texas' election procedures. Across the country 92 restrictive bills were introduced in 33 states since the end of 2013. Of those 13 are still pending and and eight states have already passed nine restrictive bills. Those statistics about balance out the 10 states that have expanded voting rights already and seven states that have expansive bills pending.
