What “preclearance” meant under the Voting Rights Act (VRA)

If the courts consistently applied precedent, a lot of this would already be stopped! Thing is, it feels like SCOTUS stopped following it!

Guess what, precedent isn’t gone — it’s dormant!

Preclearance came from Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It required certain states and counties — mostly in the South — to get federal approval before changing any voting rules.

This included changes like:

redistricting maps
voter ID laws
polling place closures
early voting cuts
registration rules
ballot access changes

They could not take effect until the federal government said:

“This change does not discriminate against minority voters.”

This was a proactive protection — it stopped discrimination before it happened.

What preclearance prevented

Before 2013, preclearance blocked:

strict voter ID laws
racially gerrymandered maps
polling place closures in Black neighborhoods
cuts to early voting
discriminatory registration rules

The Department of Justice blocked over 1,000 discriminatory changes between 1965 and 2013.

Without preclearance, many of those changes would have gone into effect.

What happened after preclearance was removed

Within hours of the Shelby ruling:

Texas implemented a voter ID law previously blocked as discriminatory.
North Carolina passed a sweeping voting law that a court later said targeted Black voters “with almost surgical precision.”
States began closing polling places in minority communities.
Redistricting maps like Tennessee’s became far easier to pass.

This is why you’re seeing the pattern you described — and why it feels like it’s spreading.