Problems at the Polls

PROBLEMS AT THE POLLS

Lack of federal oversight causes drastic election changes

Story and design by Kimmie Johansen

Dallas County has seen the second largest wave of polling location closures in the country since the Supreme Court ruled part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act to be unconstitutional in 2013.

The Voting Rights Act was enacted by congress to combat almost a hundred years of voter discrimination. Before it’s implementation, black voters were largely excluded from the election process through the use of literacy tests, poll taxes, intimidation tactics and violence. In 2103, Shelby County, Alabama, filed a suit in district court seeking a judgment that section 5 and section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act were unconstitutional, and a permanent end to their enforcement. Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act required specific counties and states to submit any change to election procedures to a federal court. The change would be approved if “neither has the purpose nor will have the effect” to disenfranchise voters based on

race. This is called preclearance.

Section 4(b) defined these specific counties and states by their use of voting tests and voter turnout rates in the 1964 election.Texas was included in the states subject to review.

The question presented to the Supreme Court was whether Congress exceeded its power in renewing section 5 and section 4(b) back in 2006. Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the 5-4 majority opinion deeming section 4 unconstitutional on the basis that it imposes constraints no longer relevant to the voting conditions in the states and districts in question.

Roberts began his opinion writing, “the Voting Rights Act of 1965 employed extraordinary measures to address an extraordinary problem.”

Later in the opinion, Roberts argues the Voting Rights Act is in sharp contrast with the 10th amendment, which reserves powers not granted to the federal government to the states because section 5 only has jurisdiction over some parts of the country.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote in a dissenting opinion, “throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a storm because you are not getting wet.” Since the decision, states have closed polling places, shortened voting hours, imposed barriers to voter registration, implemented strict voter ID laws, purged registered voters from voter rolls and changed voting districts. It has become increasingly challenging to find discriminatory voting changes before their enactment post-Shelby v. Holder because places with a history of voter suppression are no longer required to notify federal officials of changes.

A report done by the Leadership Conference Education Fund found 1,688 polling location closures in places previously covered by section 5. Of those, 750 closures happened in Texas since 2012 despite an increase in voter turnout.

While Texas has typically held a historically low voter turnout rate in comparison to the rest of the country, the state saw an 18 percent increase from 2014 to 2018 in voter turnout for midterm elections, according to the United States Elections Project. As of 2018, Texas lacked up to 270 polling locations necessary, according to Texas Public Radio.

Zach Dolling, an attorney with the Civil Rights Project, analyzed hundreds of counties for election code violations. He found 33 counties with various violations consisting of not having a voting center in an area largely made up of people of color, improperly combining precincts, having more than 5,000 registered voters in a precinct and reducing polling places or voting centers below the legal amount.

“These 33 counties collectively have about 4 million registered voters in them. So, in one sense, it affected all of those voters,” Dolling said to Texas Public Radio. “Because for every missing polling place, that means more longer lines, more people at the remaining polling places.”

After sending demand letters to these counties, most pledged to make changes before the upcoming November election, while a few did not respond. Several of the counties did have the resources to commit to changes.

“It is the duty of the Office of the Secretary of State under the law, to be monitoring Texas counties for compliance with law. And it’s pretty clear from what we found that the Secretary of State has not been doing that,” Dolling said.

With a 41 percent latino and a 22 percent black population, Dallas County has seen 74 polling place closures since 2012. In the 2012 midterm elections, 60 percent of eligible voters voted.

Then, after the 2013 Shelby v. Holder decision, just 34 percent of eligible voters voted in the 2014 midterms.

Many of these polling sites have been closed in statewide efforts to create countywide voting centers. The closure of these polling locations has created long wait times for elections. According to the Texas Tribune, voters in Dallas reported waiting over two hours with dozens of people still behind them to cast their Super Tuesday ballots.

An unknown number of Texans went to the wrong polling place and could not cast their ballot in the most recent presidential and midterm elections, according to the Texas Tribune.

At a community meeting to implement a countywide voting model, Dallas County elections administrator Toni Pippins-Poole said, “with vote centers, guess what, you’re never going to be in the wrong precinct. ... It’s going to be an increase in votes just because [voters] won’t be rejected.”

Countywide polling locations are presented as making voting easier, but many advocates are suspicious of the other implications of closing polling places. “As we’ve found, these closures have a cascading effect, causing long lines at polling places, transportation hurdles, denials of language assistance and mass confusion about where eligible voters may cast their ballots,” said Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference Education Fund, while presenting to the House Judiciary Committee. “For many people, these burdens make it harder and sometimes impossible to vote.”

Additionally, highly contested voter ID laws remain in place in Texas after a sevenyear litigation battle. These laws were contested on the basis that they purposely discriminate against black and Hispanic voters who are less likely to have a photo ID, according to the Texas Tribune.

Texas’ Republican leaders have often been accused of gerrymandering, the practice of reshaping the state house and U.S. congressional districts in a way that allows one group to remain in power by voting rights activists.

“Texas is the breeding ground for voter suppression,” voting rights lawyer Gerry Hebert said to the Caller Times. “We always have our eye on Texas because they’re ground zero.”