Tag: Women Voters

Texas’ Voter Suppression Law Is on Trial

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Civil rights groups and voting organizations are in federal court challenging a Texas law that makes it harder to vote, especially for people of color and those with disabilities. Over the course of the trial, which goes until late October, counsel will show how Senate Bill 1 violates the Constitution, the Voting Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. 

While SB 1 is one of many anti-democracy laws enacted by 19 states in the year after the 2020 election, it stands out for its sheer number of restrictive and discriminatory provisions, which largely target Latino and Black voters. This is likely the only challenge to such an extensive restrictive voting law that will go to trial between now and the 2024 election. 

In North Carolina, the U.S.’ Youngest Party Chair Has a Plan for Attracting Voters and Winning Elections in the Battleground State

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Elected at 25 years old in North Carolina, Anderson Clayton is the youngest chair of a state Democratic party. In February, Clayton ousted Bobbie Richardson—a woman 48 years her senior who was endorsed by the North Carolina Democratic establishment, including Gov. Roy Cooper.

Clayton’s strategy for revitalizing the Democratic Party in North Carolina—a battleground state in the upcoming 2024 elections—is to expand the party’s base by focusing on young voters and rural communities, which she believes the party has ignored for far too long.

(This article originally appears in the Fall 2023 issue of Ms. Join the Ms. community today and you’ll get the issue delivered straight to your mailbox!)

Alabama Defies the Voting Rights Act

Black voters in Alabama won a major victory at the U.S. Supreme Court in June, after the Court ruled that Republican lawmakers violated the Voting Rights Act when they redrew the state’s congressional map after the 2020 census and failed to create a second Black district. If you stopped watching there, you might be forgiven for thinking that Alabama, thoroughly chastened, would have quickly gone about redrawing its congressional map to add a second district “in which Black voters either comprise a voting-age majority or something quite close to it.” But no.

With control of the U.S. House on the line in 2024, Republicans are fighting for every last gerrymandered seat.

Arizona Ballot Measure in 2024 Elections Could Protect Abortion Rights by Amending State Constitution

On Aug. 8, a coalition of Arizona organizations announced the filing of the Arizona Abortion Access Act, which would place a proposed constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights on Arizona’s November 2024 general election ballot.

“Every Arizonan should have the freedom to make decisions about their bodies, their lives and their futures,” said Chris Love, senior advisor for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona. “We know the work for achieving reproductive freedom is an uphill battle, and this ballot initiative is the next critical step in our renewed drive to protect the health and freedom of our patients and our communities.”

Reproductive Rights Supporters See a Path to Victory: Letting the Voters Decide

There is great reason to look at direct democracy as an opportunity to address the disconnect where the elected leadership does not reflect the needs and the will of the voters—and there is a reason conservative lawmakers want to close that window, as they are attempting to do in Ohio.

(This article originally appears in the Spring 2023 issue of Ms. Join the Ms. community today and you’ll get the issue delivered straight to your mailbox!)

Welfare Is a Human Right: How Black Mothers Fought Their Own War on Poverty With Annelise Orleck

In her book, Storming Caesars Palace: How Black Mothers Fought Their Own War on Poverty, Annelise Orleck not only shares the history of Clark County Welfare Right Organization’s (CCWRO) ascent and activism but also provides an insightful guide to community organizing.

“I loved the CCWRO’s insistence that poor women are experts on poverty and can run their own programs better than so-called professionals. And they did! … They demanded to know why a state that took tax revenue from gambling and prostitution was considered morally acceptable, but mothers trying to feed their kids were called cheaters. They were fearless.”

Student Survivors of Mass Shootings Lead Fight for Gun Control: ‘We Don’t Need Thoughts and Prayers’

Zoe Weissman remembers how it felt to be 12 years old on Feb. 14, 2018, terrified of what sounded like gunshots ringing out from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. She was at Westglades Middle School right next door thinking that no kid should feel the way she felt at that moment. Something had to change.

Today, Weissman is among those making that change.

How Republicans Force Pregnant Women to Fight for Their Lives: ‘I Found Out I Was Pregnant in June 2022’

I found out I was pregnant in June 2022. My husband and I were thrilled—and at 42 years old, we understood that I was embarking on a high-risk pregnancy. I was also leading the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee at the time. I certainly did not anticipate that my personal and professional worlds were about to collide in a historic political year.

Weeks after I learned I was pregnant, the conservative U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Some people believe that abortion laws and pregnancy have nothing to do with one another. Those people have no idea what they’re talking about—and they’ve probably never been pregnant.