• Home
  • Independent Voter News
  • Quizzes
  • Election Dissection
  • Sections
  • Events
  • Directory
  • About Us
  • Glossary
  • Opinion
  • Campaign Finance
  • Redistricting
  • Civic Ed
  • Voting
  • Fact Check
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Voting>
  3. voting>

Clinton says weaker Voting Rights Act was pivotal in her loss

Our Staff
March 05, 2019

At last weekend's annual commemoration of the 1965 civil rights standoff in Selma, Ala., most of the attention focused on the 2020 presidential candidates who attended. But the 2016 presidential loser made some news as well.

A main reason for her defeat, Hillary Clinton told an audience, was the Supreme Court's striking down six years ago of the Voting Rights Act requirement that jurisdictions with histories of racial discrimination obtain federal approval for any changes to voting laws or practices.


After saying that opponents of the law "found a receptive Supreme Court who came up with the most absurd decision," she argued that the changes didn't just "make a difference in Alabama and Georgia. It made a difference in Wisconsin, where the best studies that have been done said somewhere between 40,000 and 80,000 people were turned away from the polls because of the color of their skin, because of their age, because of whatever excuse could be made up to stop a fellow American citizen from voting."

Several legal experts contact by Salon disputed her rationale, noting that Wisconsin was not covered by the so-called preclearance requirement the court ruled unconstitutional in 2013 (nor were any of the other Rust Belt states where she was narrowly upset by Donald Trump).

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

Related Articles Around the Web
  • Clinton on the hot seat with claim that thousands were turned away ... ›
  • Hillary Clinton blames her defeat on the downfall of the Voting ... ›
  • Hillary Clinton blames gutting of Voting Rights Act for her 2016 loss ›
  • Hillary Clinton blames gutting of Voting Rights Act for her 2016 loss ... ›
voting

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Follow
Contributors

Americans mourn while politicians remain paralyzed

David Cherry

People need purpose

Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg

A choice ... and a risk

Lawrence Goldstone

This rotation of the economic cycle feels different

David L. Nevins

What I tell my law students reversing Roe would mean for the rule of law

Matthew B. Lawrence

Gun violence is a chronic disease. Health professionals must help prevent it.

Robert Pearl
latest News

Video: The State of Global Democracy

Our Staff
2h

The state of voting: June 6, 2022

Our Staff
20h

Seven states, touching all parts of America, prep for Tuesday primaries

Richard Perrins
Reya Kumar
22h

Video: Highlights from the 2022 Global Democracy Champions Summit

Our Staff
06 June

Can a gay, tough-on-crime prosecutor who supports abortion rights become California's 1st independent AG?

Shawn Griffiths
03 June

Podcast: Broken news

Our Staff
03 June
Videos

Video: Memorial Day 2022

Our Staff

Video: Helping loved ones divided by politics

Our Staff

Video: What happened in Virginia?

Our Staff

Video: Infrastructure past, present, and future

Our Staff

Video: Beyond the headlines SCOTUS 2021 - 2022

Our Staff

Video: Should we even have a debt limit

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Did economists move the Democrats to the right?

Our Staff
02 May

Podcast: The future of depolarization

Our Staff
11 February

Podcast: Sore losers are bad for democracy

Our Staff
20 January

Deconstructed Podcast from IVN

Our Staff
08 November 2021
Recommended
Video: The State of Global Democracy

Video: The State of Global Democracy

Leadership
Sen. Cory Booker speaks about gun violence

Americans mourn while politicians remain paralyzed

Leadership
State of voting - election law changes

The state of voting: June 6, 2022

State
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem

Seven states, touching all parts of America, prep for Tuesday primaries

Voting
Video: Highlights from the 2022 Global Democracy Champions Summit

Video: Highlights from the 2022 Global Democracy Champions Summit

Leveraging big ideas
people not listening

People need purpose

Leveraging big ideas