Voting has always been hard for some Americans, and it’s getting harder

The 2020 election is long over, but the fallout is still with us.

At least 14 states, including battlegrounds like Georgia, Arizona and Florida, have passed laws this year that restrict voting. Some make it harder to vote by mail, others impose new or stricter voter ID requirements. They also make it easier to remove voters from voting lists. And there’s money pouring in from all sides to enact and fight those laws.

But this is just the latest iteration of an argument that’s been happening, and racialized, as long as this country has existed.

“Efforts to restrict who can vote have sadly been with us for a long time,” said Daniel Weiner, deputy director of the nonpartisan Brennan Center. “This is a fight that has, in some sense, been with us since the founding era.”

On today’s show, Weiner talks us through the new dimensions the voting rights debate has taken on this year, the conventional wisdom that’s falling away and what the federal government can do to prevent discriminatory laws at the state level — as Attorney General Merrick Garland has vowed to do.

Later in the show, Kai Ryssdal and Kimberly Adams check in on lumber prices and the new FDA-approved drug to treat Alzheimer’s. We’ll also hear from a listener experimenting with a 9/80 work schedule and Coursera CEO Jeff Maggioncalda answers the Make Me Smart question.

When you’re done listening, tell your Echo device to “make me smart” for our daily explainers. This week ,we’re explaining Theranos, the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Juneteenth. You can hear them all here. And don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter! You can find the latest issue here.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• “Voting Laws Roundup” from the Brennan Center
• “The DOJ has a plan to protect voting rights. It might not be enough” from Vox
• Read and watch Garland’s speech on voting rights
• “Voting rights issue sparks huge fundraising across political spectrum” from Marketplace
• The story Kimberly mentioned about notaries in St. Louis
• “Lumber Prices Are Falling Fast, Turning Hoarders Into Sellers” from The Wall Street Journal
• “The Drug That Could Break American Health Care” from The Atlantic
• “Aduhelm, Biogen’s new Alzheimer’s drug, won FDA approval. Now doctors, patients, and insurers face tough decisions about care and cost.” from The Philadelphia Inquirer
• “The FDA’s hasty approval of an unproven Alzheimer’s drug is bad news for everyone” from the Los AngelesTimes
• Maggioncalda’s interview on “Marketplace Tech“
• Finally, here’s the link to join the fan-run Make Me Smart discord server

Finally: We need your voice memos! Tell us what you think of the show or ask a question for Kai Ryssdal and Molly Wood to answer! Here’s how to do it.