Sarah Ovaska on the state of voting rights in the South

News & Views

Sarah Ovaska (Photo: SCSJ)

It seldom comes as a surprise when laws negatively impacting people of color are enacted in the American South and a new report from the Southern Coalition for Social Justice provides the latest list of sobering examples.

The report, which is entitled “State of the South: Voting Rights Under Assault,” documents how voters of color (as well as young voters and those with disabilities) have been systematically targeted with laws and policies that block or discourage their participation in democracy. And sadly, the report also identifies a bevy of sobering statistics which show how voter participation among these groups is abysmally low. Recently, to better understand the situation and the steps necessary to reverse these troubling trends, NC Newsline caught up with the author of the report, SOLVE Senior communications strategist, Sarah Ovaska.