Remembering Rosanell Eaton, An Outspoken Advocate for Voting Rights
Remembering Rosanelle Eaton, the North Carolina woman who in her 90s became the face of efforts to overturn laws that civil rights activists said discriminated against black voters.
When the Supreme Court shot down a key provision of the landmark Voting Rights Act — which required that certain places with a history of discriminating against voters get federal approval before making new changes to their voting laws — lawmakers in North Carolina wasted little time in passing sweeping new rules around voting. The state issued requirements for specific kinds of photo identification, cut back on early voting and preregistration.
Supporters of the new laws, who were overwhelmingly Republican, insisted that the measures were necessary to prevent voting fraud. But voting rights experts and advocates said that
