As we keep seeing images of long voting lines, its important to remember there is nothing inspiring about people having to wait hours and hours to vote. Long lines are discriminatory, suppressive, and a direct result of the Supreme Court gutting the Voting Rights Act.
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A 2016 study found that minority voters are six times as likely as whites to wait longer than an hour to vote. Another study found that “voters in heavily black neighborhoods were 74 percent more likely to have to wait at least 30 minutes in order to vote.”washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…
It would be wrong to write off long lines simply as an annoyance. Research has indicated that long lines lower the probability of an individual voting in the next election by about one point for every hour in line. When it comes to close elections, margins like this matter.
Long lines = voter suppression. After the Supreme Court got rid the Voting Rights Act’s preclearance requirement there were at least 1,688 polling place closures (between 2012 and 2018) in jurisdictions formerly covered by the preclearance requirement. civilrightsdocs.info/pdf/reports/De… 
It's worth noting that polling place closures and long lines was a predictable outcome of John Roberts' opinion in Shelby County. Making voting harder has been one of his central projects during his time as Chief Justice. Some have called it a "crusade." vox.com/21211880/supre…
The fight against voter suppression has always been a whack-a-mole. Suppression shifted from poll taxes to voter intimidation to strict ID laws. Today, many of the tactics are more subtle. But the intent is the same: make voting harder. That's what these long lines represent.
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