By Charles Bullock, Ronald Gaddie & Justin Wert. Explores the political and legal aspects of the Jim Crow electoral era, detailing the struggle to enact the Voting Rights Act, its impact and why it was necessary. Draws on court cases and election data with an examination of the 2006 revision and renewal of the act, and its role in shaping the southern political environment in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections. Evaluates the 2013 Shelby County decision, describing how the ideological makeup of the Supreme Court created an appellate environment that made the act ripe for a challenge. Learn more.