Voter Suppression - Why is it so hard to vote ?
This year the act of voting has been amplified more than ever. Despite the paramount nature of voting this year, the act of voting still remains difficult and cumbersome for people all over the country. It’s not by coincidence that the thought of voting makes you want to pull your hair out; it’s actually by design. Voting really should be that difficult. Ever heard of a little thing called voter suppression?
VOTER SUPPRESSION
Voter suppression in U.S. history and politics is any legal or extralegal measure or strategy whose purpose or practical effect is to reduce voting or the voter registration of members of a targeted racial group, political party, or religious community. The overwhelming majority of victims of voter suppression in the United States have been African Americans.
HOW DID IT ALL START ?
Voter suppression has been practiced in the United States since at least the era of Reconstruction (1865–77), when African Americans in the states of the former Confederacy were briefly able to exercise their newly won rights to vote, run for local, state, and federal offices, and to serve on juries. The Fourteenth (1868) and Fifteenth (1870) amendments to the U.S. Constitution, along with a series of laws passed by a Republican-dominated Congress between 1866 and 1875, guaranteed U.S. citizenship and equal civil and legal rights to African Americans; and specifically prohibited denying the right to vote on the basis of race.
Despite those gains, intimidation and violence against African American office holders and would-be voters in the South, including beatings and murders, was never completely eradicated.
Early tactics of voter suppression aimed at African Americans continued to be used through the first half of the 20th century. After Reconstruction, African Americans were prevented from voting (or from registering to vote) through intimidation, violence, poll taxes, literacy or comprehension tests (which were not applied to illiterate whites), “good character” tests, grandfather clauses (which exclusively granted voted rights to [white male] descendants of persons who were eligible to vote prior to 1866 or 1867), whites-only primary elections, and outright fraud committed by white election officials. The literacy test was usually taken by African Americans who were descendants of slaves who were not allowed to read or write in several states due to anti-literacy laws.
IT HASN’T ALL BEEN BAD THOUGH
Poll taxes were abolished in 1964 with the 24th Amendment and literacy tests were outlawed under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Voting Rights Act gave everybody and their mama the right to vote. Responding to historically low rates of voter registration, Congress passed the National Voter Registration Act. Also known as the “Motor Voter” Act, which required states to allow citizens to register to vote when they applied for their drivers’ licenses. The law also required states to offer mail-in registration and to allow people to register to vote at offices offering public assistance.
WHY IT’S MAKING A COMEBACK
In 2013 U.S. Supreme Court case, Shelby County v. Holder, changed the way the Voting Rights Act was implemented nationwide. In a 5-4 decision, Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. This meant no more pre-clearance for states. In the first five years after the decision, dozens of voting laws were introduced in at least 23 states, far more than the number of covered jurisdictions under the VRA. Those measures included voter ID laws of varying strictness—some requiring the presentation of an acceptable photo ID, such as a driver’s license or passport, at polling stations as a condition of voting. Some of those measures were passed along with other provisions that closed or reduced the hours of state offices where acceptable IDs could be obtained. Other onerous restrictions on voter registration include:
The closure or relocation of polling stations that had served predominantly African American or minority voters
Forcing people to travel long distances or to wait in long lines to cast their ballots
The elimination or reduction of early voting periods
Burdensome requirements for obtaining or submitting absentee or mail-in ballots
Restrictions or outright bans on voter registration drives
The elimination of same-day voter registration
Permanent disenfranchisement of convicted felon
In 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a new bill restoring key sections of the Voting Rights Act, but it has yet to be brought to the floor in the U.S. Senate (In 2020, the bill was named the John Lewis Act, to honor the late civil rights champion).
HOW ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE A PLAN TO VOTE ?
Knowledge is POWER and now that you know the all the facts on Voter Suppression, how do you plan to vote ? If there’s a will, there’s a way. The powers at bay may not want us to vote but I’ll be damned if we roll over that easily. Here’s some tips to help you on your voting journey, because if you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready.
