Systemic Disenfranchisement

What is happening now, in the United States in 2018, is a sustained and deliberate attempt to subvert democracy through the imposition of laws and practices designed to suppress the vote among racial minorities and low-income populations.  Looking for voter fraud?  How about actions taken by Republican Secretaries of State to defraud citizens of their right to vote.

We have, of course, seen this throughout our history.  From denying certain groups the right to vote to creating obstacles to make it more difficult for people to exercise their franchise, American history is full of shameful anti-democratic examples of power elites attempting to exclude others from participating in our political system (which carries with it significant economic consequences as well).

The array of disenfranchising measures being taken by Republican officeholders at the national and state levels (and/or proposed by their allies at various “think tanks” and other organizations) is appalling.  Let’s consider just a handful of cases:

1.     In Ohio, the Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted has removed over 2 million voters off the rolls since 2011. The reason?  These voters were “inactive” (if they didn’t respond to “purge notices” which were “sent to residents who moved or didn’t cast a ballot for two years”). An article in Mother Jones magazine noted that “voters in Democratic-leaning neighborhoods have been purged at about twice the rate of people in Republican-leaning ones.”  What happened to this sinister Sec. of State?  Was he punished for abusing the powers of his office?  Nope. He is now Mike DeWine’s running-mate…on the ballot in Ohio this November for Lieutenant Governor. 

2.     The recent proposal in Georgia to shut down 7 of 9 polling places in a majority Black county, Randolph County.  Coincidence that the Democratic nominee for Governor is a Black woman, Stacey Abrams? Mike Malone, the consultant who recommended shutting down these polling sites, was a donor to the Republican gubernatorial nominee’s campaign.

3.     The implementation of an onerous state voter ID law in Wisconsin, vigorously administered, saw turnout rates in Black precincts in Milwaukee plummet in the 2016 General Election.  The margins were sufficient to tip the state to Trump in that year’s presidential election.  Again, disproportionate impact was in full effect, with “Black voters 50% likelier than whites to lack these IDs because they were less likely to drive or to be able to afford the documents required to get a current ID, and more likely to have moved from out of state” (source: Mother Jones).

4.     The breaking news that the US is “denying passports to Hispanic-Americans” who reside in Texas…and has even entered into deportation proceedings in some cases is yet another means of denying Americans their Constitutional rights.  Interesting that this is occurring in an election cycle where “Lyin’ Ted” appears to be running neck-and-neck against a charismatic Democratic Senate nominee, Beto O’Rourke. 

5.     Several states have cut back on early voting periods.  This effectively promotes the disenfranchisement of those who have less flexibility in terms of when and how they can vote (job demands, child care needs, transportation options, etc…). In 2012, Florida cut their early voting period from 14 to 8 days.  In 2013, North Carolina reduced their early voting period from 17 to 10 days.  Wisconsin (again) got rid of night and weekend early voting in 2014 while Ohio (again) cut out six days, plus evenings, plus Sunday plus the day before Election Day from their early voting period in 2014 (source: ACLU).  How does race factor into this you ask?  In 2008 and 2012, “70% of Black voters in North Carolina voted early.”  In 2012, Black voters in Ohio were twice as likely as white voters to vote early. 

6.     The Shelby County vs. Holder Supreme Court decision in 2013 (with a conservative-dominated Court, again presidential elections/choices matter) made it easier for jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination to change their election procedures without having to show that the changes “would not make minority voters worse off” or that the change was “not enacted for that purpose” (source: The Guardian).

7.     A “purge” database known as Crosscheck that “has been found to be more likely to flag African American, Asian American, and Latino voters for removal than Caucasian voters” (source: The Guardian).  Who is a big fan of Crosscheck? Why Kris Kobach, the anti-immigrant Secretary of State of Kansas (where he also took steps to disenfranchise voters) and now Trump’s Vice Chairman of the so-called “Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.”  Oh yes, Kobach is also the Kansas GOP gubernatorial nominee this year.

Sadly, these are just a few case studies.  Fascism can take many forms, race and class based voter disenfranchisement is one of manifestation of it.

When you deny the right of the people to participate in our electoral process, one must ask, who is the real “enemy of the people”?   

In solidarity.