Protect the Vote
  October 17, 2025 Greetings Meteor readers, What a long, short week it’s been. Y’all good out there?  In today’s newsletter, we take a look at the latest attack on the Voting Rights Act. Plus, a sternly worded letter for Pete Hegseth.  WHAT’S GOING ONVoting woes: On Wednesday, voters from Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina packed into seven different buses and made their way to Washington D.C. as part of a demonstration led by Black Voters Matter. They were there to show the very human issues at stake in Louisiana v. Callais, which the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for this week. The case is focused on a district map in Louisiana, which a group of “non-African American voters” argues is unconstitutional because two of its districts are majority-Black. The argument takes aim at the longstanding interpretation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act—widely considered to be “the main legal limitation on gerrymandering in many red states, particularly in the South,” per The New York Times. Section 2 bans voting processes or requirements that impede an individual’s right to vote based on race, and for 40-plus years has been used to require regions where people of color are the majority to actually draw the districts that way. That interpretation is, in the simplest terms, an insurance policy designed to “prevent ‘dilution’ of minorities’ voting power and ensure that communities of Black, Latino or Asian voters can elect their preferred candidates,” per Politico. But Section 2 has come under fire from conservative judges, who charge that it has been giving an unfair advantage to Democrats (because apparently all minorities only vote for Dems? What political realignment?). They argue that the “race-based remedy” Section 2 provided was only intended to be temporary, and should perhaps be thrown out entirely. What does any of this legal-speak have to do with you, and could it shore up the GOP’s grip on America not just in the 2026 midterms but “for generations,” as one expert warned Newsweek? Short answer: yes. If the court votes to weaken the Voting Rights Act, as experts believe it will, Louisiana will be free to redraw its district maps and potentially eliminate the requirement for “majority-minority districts,” legal scholars tell the BBC, thereby diluting the power of Black voters in the state. And that opens the floodgates for other states to redraw their maps, and if you live in a state like Florida, Kansas, or North Carolina—all of which are considering new maps—that could affect your representation significantly. All of this is part of a larger scheme from the GOP to create more reliably Republican districts and have a stronger foothold in the House. So far, it’s succeeding. Nervous? While we await the Court’s decision, you can support groups like Black Voters Matter, Voto Latino, or When We All Vote. And don’t tune out when gerrymandering comes up! To quote our favorite John Oliver line: ‘If you want to do something evil, put it inside something boring.” The GOP hopes it works. Let’s prove them wrong. AND:
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