Protect the Vote: Stopping Voter Suppression
protectthevote.net
protectthevote.net
Sadly, I don't see it happening without a change in our political landscape. The Senate has been actively blocking legislation to restore the voting rights act for the past 315 days [2]. This is the legislation introduced in the 1960's to prevent racial discrimination in elections at the height of the civil rights movement. Unfortunately, enforcement has been stripped out over the past few decades making it completely toothless. The tragedy, is that the legislation to restore its power isn't even being blocked because of discussions and legislative differences that can be worked through. It is being blocked by the majority leader just refusing to even hear or vote about it.
[1] https://mavenroundtable.io/theintellectualist/news/study-rac...
[2] https://www.axios.com/john-lewis-voting-rights-senate-5fb8d3...
Surely the most causal factor is location? The black & minority vote generally goes to Democrats; so presumably in Democrat controlled states any impediments to minority voters would be dealt with promptly.
- Inflexibility in when people may vote; The types of jobs people have access to has a racial bias. Black people tend to have jobs where they literally aren't allowed to leave during they which means they can't stop by the polling location during off hours. This can make polling places deal with larger peaks in predominantly black areas.
- Partisan resource allocation; predominantly black regions tend to lean democrat and so in republican areas they may receive fewer resources to deal with voting.
- Voter ID laws; These also have a racial lean and can clog up regions where they are enacted. Minorities also tend to have a more difficult time gaining access to IDs for voting and so people may have to come back multiple times or be turned away.
- State voting laws; Regions vary with who has access to early voting, vote by mail, etc. These tend to have a racial bias as well.
It's about race.
I mean, you’re basically describing redlining (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redlining) - a textbook case of a “we all already agree that this is racist and it’s not particularly controversial” concept.
You don’t need a law that says “Black people can’t vote” in order to have racist policies!
We don't have separate drop off boxes for tax returns, why would this be different? And that's something that carries penalties for not submitting on time. Or am I missing something?
https://www.texastribune.org/2020/10/11/texas-ballot-drop-of...
I think if you did any reading on this topic at all you’d find that’s incorrect.
I think if voter ID laws in the US also included all these provisions, most of the opposition would disappear.
- We do shag-all else in life without showing identification. Try to see a dentist without photo ID and proof of insurance.
- State issued ID with a bar code ensures rapid check-in to participate, minimizing lines, while maximizing valid voter participation.
- The nicest thing I have to say about the opposing arguments is they are far from compelling.
Database maintenance is hard. It is my hope that the results of the election next month are solid enough that the U.S. has a mandate to shore up the whole creaky mess and ensure every legal voter is treated equally, as they should be.
It'd be ideal if people could step back, disassociate themselves from their political party, and decide if something makes sense.
This reminds me of the classic Ami Horowitz video where he asks whites at a uni about voter "suppression" and then blacks in the street about their responses
Isn't voter suppression more of a legislative issue in modern times?
It's happened in 2016 and possibly before that (?) as well. I think it's probably a good idea for most democracies, newer or otherwise.