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Though the Voting Rights Act of 1965 helped ensure the voting rights of citizens, many of the following tactics remain in play in attempts to influence elections at the local, state and national levels:

Voter ID laws: Indiana is among states that require voters to prove who they are. Critics of this practice say it discourages many people from voting. Thats because they may not have money to obtain identification or transportation to a Bureau of Motor Vehicles site.

Polling site consolidation: This tactic disproportionately prevents people of color from voting because it can require them to travel farther, a problem when voters dont have transportation. In some instances, this is overcome when organizations are able to provide group transportation to the polls.

The NAACP filed an unsuccessful suit in Indiana in 2017 because of a consolidation law that applied only to Lake County, which has the states second-largest Black population and largest Hispanic population.

Poll taxes: Begun in the 1890s, poll taxes were specifically designed to prevent African Americans from voting in southern states. Poor white people who could prove that their ancestors voted prior to the Civil War were exempt.

Though poll taxes have been enacted historically in many nations, they were outlawed at the federal level in 1964 when Congress passed the 24th Amendment. Five states continued to enforce poll taxes until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled them unconstitutional in 1966.

Critics have accused government officials in Florida of levying unlawful poll taxes as recently as this year by requiring ex-felons to pay back fees before they are allowed to vote.

Literacy tests: Starting in the 1890s, many southern states administered literacy tests, one of the specific types of voter suppression the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was designed to eliminate.

The U.S. had been one of several nations, including Australia with its White Australia policy and South Africa with Apartheid during that same period, that required voters to pass reading and writing tests. Such exams were a way of excluding voters because of race or nation of origin.

As with poll taxes, white people often could be exempted from the requirement through the voting records of their ancestors or a finding of good moral character.

Gerrymandering: This is a manipulation of electoral districts to unfairly favor a particular party or class of people.

Gerrymandering is still considered a problem for minority voters today and is still practiced by the Indiana General Assembly, where the party in power draws congressional and legislative districts every 10 years.

Former President Barack Obama and his former U.S. attorney general, Eric Holder, are dedicated to promoting the 28th Amendment, which would reform the redistricting process.

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Follow Rebecca R. Bibbs on Twitter at @RebeccaB_THB, or call 765-640-4883.

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Types of voter suppression | State News | heraldbulletin.com - The Herald Bulletin