described as the heart of the voting rights act was gone. it was no accident that shelby county, a teeny tiny county in the south became the bell weather for voter suppression three years prior to the supreme court decision. the 2010 census found that, like many counties across the nation, shelby saw an explosion of diversity. according to the u.s. census, shelby county had a nearly 297% increase in its latino population, a 95% increase in african-americans. and a fifth of their population was between the ages of 5 and 17. that s important because it meant that there was a generation of young latinx, african-americans, asian-americans, and white allies coming of age getting ready to cast their first vote in the coming elections. and that s what they did. in 2018 latinos became the second largest voting bloc.