December 2024 Lunch and Learn - The 60th Anniversary of The Voting Rights Act

Our right to vote is the most basic promise of our democracy. In August 2025 we will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). Our democracy is strongest when every voice is heard, which is why the League of Women Voters strongly advocate for measures to make voting more accessible. Since the 2013 Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder gutted the VRA, at least twenty-nine states have passed ninety-four laws that make it harder to vote, with the burden falling hardest on Black voters and other voters of color. The December noon program will highlight the history of voting rights in America up to and including the VRA. Sam Scinta will also review the consequential Shelby County and Brnovich Supreme Court decisions that have limited aspects of the VRA and will discuss current efforts to restore the VRA. Join the LWV as we celebrate the decades of voting rights advocacy and work to restore the VRA through the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. We need a fully restored VRA to defend our democracy and protect the freedom to vote. Speaker: Sam Scinta is a partner in SG Civic Planning, a consulting firm focused on work with local governments and developers across Wisconsin and Minnesota. Prior to that, he served as the publisher of Fulcrum Publishing, a leading independent book publisher, for over 15 years. He received his JD from the University of Denver and worked as a public finance attorney prior to joining Fulcrum. In 2015, Sam founded IM Education, Inc., a nonprofit focusing on critical thinking and civil discourse within education. He is a lecturer in the Servant Leadership Program at Viterbo University, where he teaches a class on Civics and the Common Good, and the Political Science Department at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse. In 2021, in partnership with Viterbo University’s Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership, Sam created Rebuilding American Civics, a program designed to provide civics education and creating a space for civil discourse for community members; this program launched a new series, Civics and Cinema, in the fall of 2024. he has served on several boards in the Western Wisconsin region.