• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

State of Elections

William & Mary Law School | Election Law Society

Hide Search

Virginia Voting Rights Act

Virginia Passes State-Level Voting Rights Measure Mirroring Original Federal 1965 Voting Rights Act

Election Law Society · February 2, 2022 ·

By: Sarah Fisher

In March 2021, Virginia—a state historically marked by racially discriminatory practices in voting—became the first state formerly covered by the landmark federal 1965 Voting Rights Act to adopt state-level voting rights legislation modeled off of the Civil Rights Era measure.

Under the 1965 Act, certain cities, counties, and states with a history of race-based discrimination in voting were required to seek approval (called “preclearance”) from the United States Attorney General before making any changes to their election laws, regulations, or practices. The group of states and municipalities required to seek preclearance was determined by a formula that considered the jurisdiction’s use of certain discriminatory voting practices (such as poll taxes) and the jurisdiction’s voter registration and participation rates as of 1968.

[Read more…] about Virginia Passes State-Level Voting Rights Measure Mirroring Original Federal 1965 Voting Rights Act

Can Virginia Become a Redistricting Unicorn like Iowa?

Election Law Society · October 27, 2017 ·

By Aaron Barden

There was a lizard on the floor of the James City County (JCC) government building’s Board of Supervisors meeting hall on August 8th, 2017. I was there to watch the board consider OneVirginia2021’s resolution, which in most cases does little more than declare support for non-partisan redistricting. But JCC’s resolution was different. The resolution had a paragraph tacked to the end that would have changed the County’s local redistricting procedure from a citizen board with no criteria-based restrictions (preventing use of party, no incumbency protection, etc.) to a reliance on the Board’s staff to draw the lines with such restrictions. [Read more…] about Can Virginia Become a Redistricting Unicorn like Iowa?

Primary Sidebar

Pages

  • About Us
  • Election Law Glossary
  • Staff History
  • Links
  • Archived Pages
    • Citizens United + The States
    • Virginia Redistricting Competition

Search

View Posts by State

Archives

Tags

2016 Election 2020 Election Absentee ballots absentee voting Ballot Access ballot initiative Campaign Finance Citizens United Colorado Disenfranchise disenfranchisement Early Voting Election 2016 Electronic Voting Felon Voting Rights First Amendment Gerrymandering in-depth article judicial elections mail-in voting National Voter Registration Act North Carolina photo ID primary election Redistricting Referendum Registration Secretary of State state of elections Supreme Court Texas Virginia Vote by mail Voter Fraud Voter ID Voter Identification voter registration Voter Turnout voting voting and COVID Voting Machines Voting Rights Voting Rights Act VRA William & Mary

Blogroll

  • Election Law Issues
  • William & Mary Law School
  • Williamsburg Redistricting – "The Flat Hat" article

Friends

  • W&M Election Law Program

Contact Information:

To contact us, send an email to
wmstateofelections@gmail.com

Current Editorial Staff

Brendan W. Clark ’24, Editor-in-Chief
Rachel Clyburn ’24, Editor-in-Chief

State of Elections

Copyright © 2025 · Monochrome Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok