On July 1, the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court narrowed the only major section of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 still in force with its ruling in the Arizona case Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee, the Virginia Voting Rights Act went into effect, providing broad protections against voter suppression, discrimination, and intimidation. As Republican-controlled states across the South raced to establish new voting restrictions in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision gutting the Voting Rights Act, Democratic-controlled Virginia ultimately moved in the opposite direction by passing legislation that will protect the state’s marginalized voters and expand ballot access.

Facing South recently spoke with Tram Nguyen, co-executive director of the voting rights group New Virginia Majority, who helped craft the Virginia law. Modeled after the federal […]