PROTECT VOTING RIGHTS
Voter suppression is rampant throughout the US. We must take action to stop this crisis so millions of Americans are no longer deprived of their right to vote.
The Voting Rights Act, a landmark piece of federal civil rights legislation, was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965
to ensure that state and local governments do not impose discriminatory voting policies. The Act secured the right to vote
for racial minorities throughout the US, especially in the South. It includes multiple ways to regulate elections, including
provisions that outlaw literacy tests and other methods that politicians have historically used to disenfranchise minorities.
Section 4(b) contains a "coverage formula" that determines which state and local governments are subject to the special provisions
in Section 5, which include requiring federal approval, or "preclearance", before changing their election laws.
The formula covered districts which had a history of racially discriminatory voting policies, and mainly targeted the Deep South.
In 2013, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to invalidate Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County v. Holder. This decision made the provisions in Section 5 unenforceable and allowed several states to impose restrictive election laws without advance federal approval.
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Photo ID laws, voter registration restrictions, voter purges, lack of polling places, felony disenfrachisement,
and gerrymandering are among the many ways that politicians restrict voting. These measures disporportionally target
people of color, students, the elderly, and people with disabilities.
Thirty-six states have photo ID laws. According to the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), voter ID laws reduce turnout by approximately 2-3 percent, which can translate to tens of thousands of votes lost in a single state. Over 21 million citizens lack government-issued photo IDs, as they are not always accessible. IDs can be costly or come with related expenses, and are often inconvenient to obtain for people living in rural areas. Minority voters disproportionately lack ID. Nationally, up to 25% of African-American citizens of voting age lack government-issued photo ID, compared to only 8% of whites. As in-person voter fraud is extremely rare, these laws serve no purpose other than targeting marginalized groups and reducing voter turnout. Voter registration restrictions like these laws are extremely common, and can also include laws that limit the amount of time for voter registration, among other restrictive measures.
Voter purges are another form of disenfranchisement. It is necessary to clean up voter rolls from time to time, as people move, die, or become ineligible to vote; however, states sometimes use this method to purge eligible voters from rolls for illegitimate reasons or based on incorrect data, often without properly notifying the voters. A recent study from the Brennan Center found that states removed almost 16 million voters from the rolls between 2014 and 2016. Regions with a history of racial discrimination that were no longer subject to federal preclearance had significantly higher purge rates.
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Information from the ACLU and the
Brennan Center.
Equal access to the right to vote is essential to our democracy. Voting can affect change across a broad spectrum of issues, and is an extremely important form of political engagement. Depriving people of their right to vote negatively affects the entire country. In addition, voter suppression indiscriminately targets marginalized groups. Nationally, 1 in 13 Black Americans cannot vote due to disenfranchisement laws, and one third of voters with a disability report difficulty voting. We must stop voter suppression to help the US become a better and more equal country.
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Statistics from the ACLU.
I am a rising junior at the Brearley School in NYC, and am passionate about history, public health, and social justice. I wanted to create this website to raise awareness about the perils of voter suppression, and to encourage people to take action ahead of the 2020 election. I also hope to reach people in my generation and inspire them to vote, as turnout among this demographic will be especially important in November.
Image taken from this website.