Voting Rights Act of 1965
Following violent suppression of civil rights marchers in Selma, Alabama, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, which abolished literacy tests, poll taxes, and other devices used to disenfranchise Black voters. The law required states with histories of discrimination to obtain federal approval before changing election rules—representing the most significant federal intervention in state election administration in American history.
Black voter registration in the South surged from 23% to 61% within four years. States that had maintained near-total exclusion suddenly had meaningful Black political participation.
The preclearance requirement blocked thousands of discriminatory voting changes until the Supreme Court effectively gutted it in Shelby County v. Holder (2013), after which states rapidly enacted new voting restrictions.
Senate Minority Leader Schumer compared the SAVE America Act to "Jim Crow type laws"—the very restrictions the Voting Rights Act dismantled. The SAVE America Act would represent the largest federal election mandate since the VRA, though critics and supporters disagree sharply on whether it expands or restricts voting access.