How voting rights are being redrawn in 2026, from the Supreme Court's Callais ruling to mid-decade maps and felony disenfranchisement, and what you can do before the Nov. 3 midterm.
States run elections in the United States, but federal law sets limits on how they do it. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) banned racial discrimination in voting. Section 5 of the law made states and counties with a history of discrimination get federal approval before changing voting rules. The Supreme Court stopped that system in Shelby County v. Holder in 2013 (Brennan Center). Section 2, which lets voters sue over rules and maps that weaken their votes because of race, became the main remaining tool (Brennan Center).
Voter suppression today rarely looks like a literacy test. It shows up in how district lines are drawn, which documents voters must show, how voter rolls are cleaned and who loses the vote after a conviction. About 4 million Americans could not vote in 2024 because of a felony conviction (The Sentencing Project). One in 22 Black adults is disenfranchised, a rate more than three times that of other adults (The Sentencing Project). About 72 percent of disenfranchised people live in their communities, not in prison (The Sentencing Project).
On April 29, 2026, the Supreme Court decided Louisiana v. Callais by a 6-3 vote (SCOTUSblog). Justice Samuel Alito wrote that Louisiana's map with a second Black-majority congressional district was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander (Supreme Court). The ruling also made Section 2 cases much harder to win. Plaintiffs now must show that racial voting patterns cannot be explained by party, and courts must look for strong evidence of present-day intentional discrimination (Brennan Center; Campaign Legal Center). Within weeks, Florida, Tennessee, Louisiana and Alabama passed new congressional maps (Wikipedia). Tennessee's map split the state's only majority-Black district (Stateline).
Those maps joined a wave of mid-decade redistricting that began when Texas redrew its map in August 2025 to add five Republican-leaning seats (Wikipedia). California voters answered in November 2025 by approving Proposition 50 with 64 percent of the vote to redraw in Democrats' favor (Wikipedia). In May 2026, Stateline estimated Republicans could gain up to 17 seats and Democrats up to six from the new maps (Stateline). At the federal level, the House passed the SAVE America Act on Feb. 11, 2026, by 218-213 (NACo). It would require documentary proof of citizenship to register and photo ID to vote, and it has stalled in the Senate (Vote.org). A federal judge permanently blocked President Trump's March 2025 elections executive order on June 24, 2026 (PBS News). Courts have also blocked a US Postal Service mail-ballot rule issued under his March 31, 2026, order (Brennan Center). On Sept. 14 the Supreme Court declined to lift that block (NACo). The midterm election is Nov. 3, 2026.
10 actions — for yourself, your community and the country. Start with one.
Use Vote.org's free lookup to confirm you are registered at your current address. It takes under a minute. Deadlines vary: Texas requires applications 30 days before Election Day, Florida 29 days and Pennsylvania 15 days. About two dozen states offer some form of same-day registration.
Add 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) to your contacts and share it in your group chats. Trained volunteers answer questions about registration, ID and problems at the polls. Spanish speakers can call 888-VE-Y-VOTA, Asian-language speakers 888-API-VOTE and Arabic speakers 844-YALLA-US.
Campaign Legal Center's Restore Your Vote tool walks people through their state's rules and connects them to local help. You can send this text to a friend or family member:
“Hey, I read that a lot of people with old convictions can vote and don't know it. This free site checks your state's rules in a few minutes: restoreyourvote.org. Want to look together?”
Use the US Election Assistance Commission's (EAC) lookup tool to find your local election office's poll worker page. It lists requirements, hours, pay and training in your area. Apply now so your county can place and train you before Nov. 3.
Election Protection recruits and trains volunteers to watch for problems at polling places and help voters on Election Day. Lawyers, paralegals and law students can staff the hotline instead. Volunteers serve in the state where they live.
VoteRiders runs a free helpline (call or text 866-432-8683) that explains your state's voter ID rules and helps voters get an ID, including setting up appointments and covering costs. Share the number with neighbors, or sign up on its site to volunteer with voters who need help.
The NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) lists 11 states with their own Voting Rights Acts, and more states have bills pending. Find your legislators at your state legislature's website and call or email. Sample wording:
“I'm a constituent in [town]. The Supreme Court weakened Section 2 of the federal Voting Rights Act in Louisiana v. Callais. I'm asking you to sponsor or support a state Voting Rights Act that protects voters of color from discriminatory maps and rules. Will you commit to that this session?”
The bill is S. 2523 in the Senate and H.R. 14 in the House. It would restore a federal preclearance system. Call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and say:
“I'm a constituent from [zip code]. I'm asking [Senator or Representative name] to cosponsor the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and to oppose the SAVE America Act.”
Florida requires people with felony convictions to pay all court fines and fees before their voting rights return. The Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC) uses 100 percent of donations to its fund to pay those debts for returning citizens.
Black Voters Matter funds more than 700 grassroots partner groups and runs voter outreach in Black communities across more than 25 states. A small monthly gift through its site helps local groups plan past a single election.
The 15th Amendment was ratified. It bars states from denying the vote based on race, color or previous condition of servitude. Read more ›
The 24th Amendment was ratified. It bans poll taxes in federal elections. Read more ›
Alabama state troopers attacked voting rights marchers, including John Lewis, on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. The day became known as Bloody Sunday. Read more ›
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law. Read more ›
Congress amended Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act so voters could challenge rules with discriminatory effects, not only discriminatory intent. Read more ›
In Shelby County v. Holder, the Supreme Court struck down the formula that decided which places needed federal preclearance, ending that system in practice. Read more ›
Florida voters approved Amendment 4 with 64.55 percent of the vote, restoring voting eligibility to about 1.4 million people with past felony convictions. Read more ›
The full 11th Circuit upheld Florida's law requiring people with felony convictions to pay all fines and fees before voting. Read more ›
In Allen v. Milligan, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that Alabama's congressional map likely violated Section 2. Read more ›
Texas enacted a new congressional map drawn to add five Republican-leaning seats, starting a wave of mid-decade redistricting. Read more ›
The Supreme Court decided Louisiana v. Callais 6-3, striking down Louisiana's second Black-majority district and narrowing Section 2 claims. Read more ›
Midterm election day. Virginia voters will also decide a constitutional amendment to restore voting rights automatically when people leave prison. Read more ›
A history of the Voting Rights Act from its passage through the fights over it in the decades after. Berman follows the lawyers, lawmakers and activists on both sides.
Anderson traces voter ID laws, purges and poll closures after Shelby County. She connects them to earlier tactics like poll taxes and literacy tests.
Berman examines how the Senate, the Electoral College, the courts and gerrymandering let a minority of voters hold power.
Meade tells how he went from homelessness and a prison sentence to leading Florida's Amendment 4 campaign.
Abrams describes voter suppression tactics she saw in Georgia and lays out a plan for voter protection and census work.
The Brennan Center's president tells the history of voting rights in the US from the founding to the present. A 2022 paperback edition adds the 2020 election and its aftermath.
Lewis's memoir covers his work with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Freedom Rides and the Selma march that led to the Voting Rights Act.
Shop the Banned Books Book Club. Every book above links to our Banned Books Book Club shop on Bookshop.org, which supports independent bookstores.
Volunteers are trained to monitor polls or staff the voter hotline for the 2026 elections. Poll monitoring is open to people without legal training.
Find your local election office's poll worker training and pay details. Most local offices pay poll workers and provide training before Election Day.
Materials for starting or strengthening a state VRA campaign, with a form to connect with LDF organizers.
A guide to your rights at the polls, including what to do about voter intimidation and how to get help with disability access and language.
State-by-state reports, policy briefs and recorded webinars on felony disenfranchisement and voter engagement for people with convictions.
A Mississippi sharecropper who was fired and beaten after trying to register to vote. She co-founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and testified at the 1964 Democratic convention.
A chairman of SNCC who led marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Bloody Sunday in 1965. He served in Congress from Georgia from 1987 until his death in 2020.
A Selma organizer who helped register Black voters for decades and invited Martin Luther King Jr. to Selma. She was beaten unconscious on Bloody Sunday.
Executive director of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition. He led the 2018 Amendment 4 campaign and received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2021.
Co-founder of Black Voters Matter in 2016. She organizes voters in rural Black communities across the South.
Co-founder of Black Voters Matter. He leads its bus tours and advocacy against restrictive voting laws.
A former Georgia House minority leader who founded Fair Fight after the 2018 governor's race. The group works on voter protection and fights restrictive voting rules.
President and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. She is a voting rights scholar and LDF represented Black Louisiana voters in Louisiana v. Callais.
Traces voter suppression from poll taxes, literacy tests and grandfather clauses through Shelby County v. Holder and 2020 polling-place cuts in Kentucky.
Frames Florida's fines-and-fees rule for returning citizens as a modern poll tax and ties it to the 24th Amendment.
Covers the Jim Crow roots of felony voting bans and the other rights people lose after a conviction.
Describes who lacks government ID, including unhoused people, and local drives that help residents get IDs.
Recorded the day Louisiana v. Callais came down, this 40-minute episode explains the ruling with election lawyer Marc Elias.
Election law scholars Edward Foley and Michael Morley discuss Callais from different perspectives. Listen for a debate on the ruling rather than a single view.
Slate's weekly show on the Supreme Court. Its 2026 episodes include "A Shattering Blow to Fair Elections" on the Court's follow-up orders after Callais.
This episode tells the story of Baker v. Carr, the 1962 case that brought redistricting into federal courts and led to the rule of one person, one vote.
A weekly show on race, politics and culture that regularly covers voting rights and elections.
No. Section 2 is still law, but Louisiana v. Callais made it much harder to win a Section 2 case over district maps (SCOTUSblog). Section 5 preclearance has not operated since 2013 (Brennan Center).
Voting by noncitizens is already illegal in federal elections. A Brennan Center study of the 2016 election found about 30 suspected noncitizen votes out of 23.5 million in the places it examined (Brennan Center). A Brennan Center survey estimates 21.3 million voting-age citizens lack ready access to a document proving citizenship (Brennan Center). That includes 11 percent of citizens of color and 8 percent of white citizens (Brennan Center).
It depends on the state. Maine and Vermont let everyone vote, including people in prison, while other states restore rights after release or after the full sentence and fees are complete (The Sentencing Project). Restore Your Vote (restoreyourvote.org) checks the rules for your state.
No. Both parties redrew maps in 2025 and 2026, with California and Utah shifting seats toward Democrats and states like Texas, Florida and North Carolina shifting seats toward Republicans (Wikipedia). In 2019 the Supreme Court ruled in Rucho v. Common Cause that federal courts cannot hear partisan gerrymandering claims (Supreme Court). After Callais, states can defend maps that cut Black districts by saying they were drawn for party reasons (Brennan Center).
Courts have blocked the Postal Service rule that would have limited mail ballot delivery under the March 2026 executive order, and on Sept. 14 the Supreme Court declined to lift that block (NACo). Your state's own mail ballot deadlines still apply, so check them with your local election office and return your ballot early.
Stay in line and call 866-OUR-VOTE (Election Protection). If a poll worker says you are not on the list, ask for a provisional ballot and ask how to make sure it is counted.
The rules fall unevenly by race. One in 22 Black adults cannot vote because of a felony conviction, over three times the rate of other adults (The Sentencing Project). After Callais, Tennessee split its only majority-Black congressional district (Stateline), and Louisiana moved to eliminate one of its two (Wikipedia).
Every claim in this guide is cited inline. Here are all 34 sources in one place.
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