According to Wikipedia, Voting Rights Act:
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. §§ 1973–1973aa-6) is a landmark piece of national legislation in the United States that outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the U.S
With gerrymandering, hasn't the republican party found their perfect solution to circumvent the spirit of VR Act. By creating near 100% African American district, GOP has been able to concentrate Democratic votes into fewer districts and deny the majority the right to rule
Below the fold, my proposal to reform the VR Act
1. Redistricting is done by non-partisan commission. Democrats and Republicans will have equal representation. The report of the commission is binding.
2. State Districts has to be in line with national polling. Every district has to be within 10% variance of the average voting pattern of the state in the last 3 elections. For eg: Ohio had 50.2-48.3 (2012), 51.5-46.9 (2008) and 48.7-50.8 (2004). The average works out to 50.1-48.6. So, the districts has to have a minimum of 40.1D to a maximum of 60.1D and a minimum of 38.6R to maximum of 58.6R
3. This means that Presidential campaigns and parties have to invest in non-swing state. Today, there are 186EVs for Obama and 154 EVs that Romney carried where the D-R differential was more than 10%. These represent 35 of the 50 states (plus DC)