Georgia was among the southern states where hundreds of polling places have been closed since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned part of the Voting Rights Act in 2013, a new report by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights revealed.
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Civil rights advocates said Tuesday that The U.S. Supreme Court must restore a key provision of the Voting Rights Act after a sweeping new report showed how the court’s decision led to the closure of nearly 1,700 polling places across the American South.

The Leadership Conference Education Fund’s study, “Democracy Diverted,” revealed Tuesday that nearly 1,200 of the polling places were closed between the 2014 and 2018 midterm elections, “underscoring the scale of this assault on U.S. democracy.”

The group is the research and education arm of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Under Law, the nation’s largest coalition of civil rights groups.

“We must recognize that closures are taking place at alarming speed amid broader efforts to prevent people of color from voting,” said Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference. “And meanwhile, […]