When I hear people saying things like "if voting worked, it would be illegal" I somewhat get confused because wouldn't the fact that ways that prevented voting in the past and present, such as felon disenfranchisement, gerrymandering, and literacy tests prove this statement true and mean that voting actually works in the State?

Just something that I have been having problems wrapping my head around because I find it odd that the system always encourages ways to increase voting instead of decreasing it.