US Midterm Elections: Several states in fight over voting rights

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The issue of voter suppression has come to the fore in the lead-up to next week's US congressional elections. Some states have tightened restrictions -- putting up barriers that discourage, or even prevent, people from making their voice heard. CGTN reporter Jim Spellman explains.

"It is wrong, deadly wrong to deny any of your fellow Americans the right to vote in this country."

In 1965 U.S. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act.

The landmark law removed barriers that prevented African Americans from voting.

But In 2013 the Supreme Court struck down parts of the Voting Rights Act, giving local jurisdictions greater control over the voting process and allowing the creation of new barriers to voting. Critics say the changes - mostly target African Americans and other minorities.

ERIC HOLDER FORMER US ATTORNEY GENERAL "This decision represents a serious setback for voting rights and has the potential to negatively affect millions of Americans across the country."

In Georgia, strict voter ID laws are making it more difficult to vote- -Impacting thousands of would-be voters in a governor's race that pits a white male Republican.

"I'm Brian Kemp. I'm so conservative. I blow up government spending."

Against a female African American Democrat.

STACEY ABRAMS DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR GEORGIA GOVERNOR "It's going to have a disproportionate effect on people of color, and on women, and you do it anyway. That erodes the public trust in the system."

Voting rights advocates say the law is racist.

KRISTEN CLARKE LAWYERS' COMMITTEE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS UNDER LAW "There is no other explanation but race that could explain this kind of outcome. When we see racial disparity like this, they set off red flags and sadly this is a pattern that we are seeing across Georgia this election cycle."

In North Dakota, a controversial law requiring exact street addresses means thousands of Native Americans living on reservations in rural areas may not be able to vote in the upcoming midterm elections.

MARGARET LANDIN NATIVE VOTE "It's discriminating and disenfranchising to our people to not allow them to vote."

Many states have also seen voters purged from voting rolls based on minor problems with registrations.

There are also widespread efforts to limit the impact of certain voters through a process known as gerrymandering: state legislatures creating elaborately drawn congressional districts like these. Both parties do it, but the Republicans have been far more effective in recent years.

Republicans have framed these efforts as a fight against so-called voter fraud. A few weeks before the midterms Trump tweeted:

"All levels of government and Law Enforcement are watching carefully for VOTER FRAUD, including during EARLY VOTING. Cheat at your own peril. Violators will be subject to maximum penalties, both civil and criminal!"

JIM SPELLMAN WASHINGTON "But there is no evidence widespread voter fraud exists. A New York University study found that in the 2016 Election, when Trump was elected, just four cases of voter fraud were documented out of nearly 140 million ballots cast. Jim Spellman, CGTN, Washington."