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<v 0>Voting lines and wait times have been getting longer and longer.</v>

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And there is a reason for that. Voting should take no longer than 30 minutes,

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according to the Presidential Commission on Election Administration.

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<v 2>But in the 2018 primaries,</v>

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nearly half of Latino voters and Black voters waited an average of 45 percent

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longer than white voters.

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That's in large part because people of color tend to live in communities where

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there are fewer electoral resources,

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a problem that can be traced to one 2013 Supreme Court decision.

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In the 1965 Voting Rights Act,

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there was a provision that said any new election laws from states with a history

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of discrimination needed federal oversight and approval before implementation.

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The provision was meant to be temporary,

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but was renewed several times due to its success in decreasing the voter turnout

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gap between whites and Black Americans. But in 2013,

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the Supreme Court overturned it,

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citing rising voter turnout rates in minority neighborhoods.

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<v 0>In other words, the provision was deemed no longer needed.</v>

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24 hours after the Supreme Court decision, Texas, Mississippi,

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and Alabama enforced photo ID laws that previously were barred under the

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provision. Proponents of the law say these policies combat voter fraud,

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but 11 percent of eligible voters, mainly people who are young and in poor,

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rural neighborhoods do not have government-issued photo IDs.

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<v 2>Polling closures also increased since 2013. In Arizona and Georgia,</v>

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one in five voting locations closed. In Texas, more than one in 10 closed.

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And in Louisiana and Mississippi, one in 20 closed.

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The closures mostly occurred in minority neighborhoods.

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After an unprecedented number of mail-in ballots in the 2020 election,

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some lawmakers have targeted absentee voting and new restrictive bills.