A national NAACP leader based in Tampa says recent challenges in federal court to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 could eviscerate protections for minority voters and erode decades of precedent. “We need the protection of the Voting Rights Act that was provided in 1965 and that people bled and died for,” Leon Russell, chairman of the NAACP Board of Directors, said. In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law after civil rights demonstrations, particularly in Selma, Alabama, highlighted the brutal racism Black Southerners experienced trying to exercise their right to vote. For decades, private groups like the NAACP have been able to sue for voter protection under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which prohibits voting qualifications and practices that deny voting rights based on race. However, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling stating that only the attorney general has enforcement power and that private groups do not have a right of action to use. This decision came after the NAACP challenged a house redistricting plan the group says dilutes Black voting power. MORE: https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/investigations/10-investigates/voting-rights-act-naacp-leader-florida/67-06f19d53-d770-41f2-8707-55dcba5e99b0 ►Subscribe: https://on.wtsp.com/youtube ►Website: https://www.wtsp.com/ ►Facebook: https://facebook.com/10TampaBay ►X: https://twitter.com/10TampaBay