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The Fight for Voting Rights: Voter Suppression in American Elections By Lina Benredouane Edited by Quinn Bunke “I am American and it Took Me 7 Hours, 45 Minutes and 12 Seconds to Vote” I was as shocked reading that quote as you probably are right now. Or, perhaps, you were already aware that voter suppression is as grave a problem as it has ever been in American elections, and that it disproportionately impacts Black voters and people of color now more than ever before. In 1965, the United States of America adopted the Voting Rights Act. The Act had section 5 and section 4(b) to prevent states from making laws that infringe on people’s right to vote in democratic elections. States with history racist legislation like voting tests and literacy tests cannot make laws to limit people of color to vote without the Federal Government's permission (Eaton and Backen 2020). This preventative measure was removed in 2013, when the Shelby County v. Holder landmark decision of the US Supreme Court was made. The landmark decision was about the constitutionality of two provisions of the voting rights act of 1965 section 5 and section 4 (b). The main argument was that section 4 (b) is unconstitutional because the coverage formula is based on data over 40 years old. voter discrimation was out of date. It convinced the jury and the Supreme Court ruled by a 5-to-4 vote. The Shelby decision made it so that states would be able to change voting laws without the permission of the federal government. Shelby effectively took away an effective tool in regulating state voting rights (Eaton and Backen 2020). “Republicans control the State House, Republicans control the Legislature, and they are, frankly, to implement the voting laws they see fit.” - Astead W. Herndon 2020 There are 5 common vote suppression tactics: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Voter ID laws Polling place closures Proof of citizenship requirements Voter Roll Purges Cuts in Early voting
Hours after Shelby's decision, the state of Alabama implemented a law requiring photo ID as Missippi did. North Carolina eliminated seven days of early voting. Different legislations happened across the country to contribute to voting suppression, but the state that ticked every box is Georgia (Root 2020). “In 2018, during the Governor’s election, County Chatham in Georgia removed nearly 300 voters from rolls because their name didn’t appear on a water bill” - Eaton & Backen
