Voter suppression is an act of violence on democracy in the US as it is systematically oppressing minority voters with the intention of manipulating election results in favour of whoever will gain the most from those results. The most relevant strategies to voter suppression are attempts to rig the electoral rules and gain control over the body that runs the election through attacking voter eligibility, and also to suppress voting by demanding documentary proof of citizenship. This means the power remains in the hands of the few fitting a specific demographic - typically, white, middle class and American-born republicans.
In 2013, the Supreme Courts gave states the power to change election laws and they no longer had to prove the changes they made did not discriminate against minority groups. States such as Texas, Alabama, and Georgia took action to make sure no one can vote illegally. These new laws purged inactive voters from registries and across the South hundreds of polling stations closed, making voting inaccessible to those who have no means of transport.
Democrats suggest that minorities have been unfairly targeted, as the introduction of stricter voter identification laws means that for those with no official ID, it is even more difficult to vote. Primarily, this is affecting BIPOC, student, elderly, disabled, low-income, homeless, and immigrant voters. These people are therefore continually underrepresented and it is becoming increasingly more difficult for them to exercise their constitutional right to vote.
In 2018, 70% of the purged voters in Georgia were Black, and 1 in 13 Black Americans can't vote because of criminal disenfranchisement.
The United States is deeply in the midst of a worldwide trend towards populist authoritarianism. Voter suppression is a threat against democracy in the United States.
Written by Ty
Artwork by Zara Masood
Comentarios