With the federal Voting Rights Act 'gutted', Michigan Democrats have crafted their own version
Michigan Democrats have for the past several years warned that the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court could and eventually would dismantle key provisions of the federal Voting Rights Act.
That fear is now a reality with the U.S. high court’s latest action in Louisiana v. Callais, in which the six Republican-appointed justices voted to gut Section 2 of the act, which was the primary tool against discriminatory voting rights policies from states hostile to voters of color. But the Callais decision was just the latest alarm bell as the court has been striking down key provisions of the act since 2013, and well before the court took such a conservative swing.
The Michigan Senate during the 2023-24 session introduced its own version of the Voting Rights Act to protect against any future threats to the longstanding civil rights law. But it failed to gain passage as the Democratic trifecta’s legislative agenda was cut short during a chaotic lame duck session.
While those bills were merely preemptive attempts at preventing the curtailing of voting rights in Michigan, the Senate is now trying again by reintroducing the same bills that passed in June 2024, but this time as a response to the Callais decision.
https://michiganadvance.com/2026/05/19/with-the-federal-voting-rights-act-gutted-michigan-democrats-have-crafted-their-own-version/