Voting after Shelby: How a 2013 Supreme Court ruling shaped the 2018 election

Surrounded by a partial crew of her 18 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Nola Cunningham’s seat in the recliner at the hearth of her humble house on Yazoo Street only heightens the dignity of the septuagenarian’s authority.

Ms. Cunningham reminisces about picking butter beans as a teenager, partly for money but also to get away “from really strict parents.” Now this is her place, where country clutter mixes with memorabilia, a broken lawnmower, and a black-and-white portrait of a young Cunningham at graduation.

Seared into her memory are the 1960s protests she participated in as racial tensions flared and Georgia became the cradle of the civil rights movement. In the decades since then, she has held one thing as a constant reminder of her civic value and her sacrifice: her vote.

Last month, Cunningham’s hard-fought dignity was unexpectedly confronted when she and eight other African-American seniors – all potential voters – were ordered by county officials to get off a bus headed to the first day of early voting in Georgia, which stood on the precipice of electing its first black governor.

“Everybody was just excited about riding that big black bus,” she

A legacy unfoldsThe onus shiftsAn electorate electrified