Voting Rights FAQ

In states around the nation, African-Americans, young voters, the elderly and low-income people may find themselves unable to cast ballots because of new restrictive laws. Conservative state legislators say they are trying to eliminate fraud at the ballot box, but civil rights groups and other advocates, argue that voter fraud is extremely rare and they simply want to turn back the clock by disenfranchising certain groups. Some, like the NAACP, have likened efforts to get new voting laws introduced or passed to the days of Jim Crow when Southern states prevented African-Americans from voting. Here’s what’s at stake. –Joyce Jones