Should every American have the right to vote?
As a voter, you probably don’t feel particularly “suppressed”. Voting in the U.S. is relatively convenient, but veteran and grandfather, Gary Dupree, might disagree.
Mr. Dupree was excited to vote and participate in his civic responsibility. However, a new law in Georgia prevents him from receiving a ballot due to his address: a shelter. It burdens voters who are “homeless and without a permanent address” with additional steps to prove residency, affecting nearly 11,000 Georgians currently without housing. In the 2020 presidential election, Georgia was decided by just 12,000 votes.
Across the U.S., efforts have been increasing over the last four years to prevent citizens from voting. In 2021 alone, 49 states’ legislatures introduced 429 bills to restrict convenient voting procedures like mail-in voting, early voting, ballot drop boxes, and create stricter rules for proving identity.
Can you pass an 1850s voter literacy test?
Despite its democratic ideals, America has long failed its citizens from reaching the ballot box. During the American Revolution, for example, women lost the right to vote and did not regain it again for 144 years. Even after the 19th Amendment granted suffrage to “all” women in 1920, reactionary laws at the state level successfully barred women of color from enjoying the same right.
Connecticut and Massachusetts have the dubious distinction of being the first two states to implement literacy tests as a requirement to vote. Taking these tests was arbitrarily enforced and targeted Indigenous people and citizens of Hispanic, Irish, and Chinese decent.
Southern states soon adopted similar measures. States like Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama were using literacy tests well into the 1960s to intimidate Black citizens from voting. In states like Georgia, Black voters today struggle with new barriers that echo challenges of the past.
The legal sneak attack that un-registers voters
Imagine showing up to vote on election day. Instead of being directed to a booth, the poll worker looks up from their roster and tells you, “I’m sorry, ma’am, you’re not on the list.”
How can this be? You are a longtime resident of your state and a registered voter, you inform them. In response, they offer you a provisional ballot. You complete it and leave with the satisfaction of expressing your views by vote.
A few days later, the state discards your ballot without you even knowing it. The reason? Your state disqualifies your ballot if you vote in a neighboring district. You didn’t realize you hadn’t been at the correct polling place. And had you not been unknowingly purged from the voter rolls, your vote would have been counted.
This story isn’t fiction. It happens to voters in every election.
Scorched-earth voter purges
Officially, purges are intended to remove voters who have moved or died. Unfounded panic that voter rolls are full of undocumented people frightens citizens into acting against their own best interests, making all citizens vulnerable to being unregistered and uncounted.
However, lawsuits have revealed their intended target—Black and Brown voters—a shameful agenda that affects every states’ citizens. Since 2019, at least six states have significantly purged their voter rolls–Ohio, Wisconsin, Texas, Georgia and Florida. Georgia’s egregious “use it or lose it” policy removes eligible voters who have not participated in elections after a certain period.
The landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965 made significant strides to empower voters, including requiring oversight of states prone to discriminatory voting practices, however that provision was overturned in court. In recent years, the outcomes of several lawsuits against the VRA have made it easier for states to enact restrictive voting laws (like stringent requirements for proving identity, closing polling places, and eliminating vote-by-mail and early voting). Worse, court rulings against the VRA have make these new laws much harder to overturn.
In every U.S. state, legislators are rapidly changing the rules of voting—and your ability to vote could be affected without even knowing it.
We can do better.
Stemming the tide of voter suppression
Growing up in a family that valued service to community—even without having a lot themselves—led one woman to eventually run for public office, mobilize voters of color, and change the fate of her state. Although losing a major race, she turned her platform into a nationwide movement to strengthen voting rights, expand voting access, and ensure fair census counts.
That American is Stacey Abrams. As a model of resilience, leadership, and commitment to democracy, she is like many Americans showing up for voters’ rights. In the last several years, grassroots coalitions and groups with legal power have challenged—and succeeded—at making strides for voters.
The People are winning
- When Georgia introduced SB 202, a bill including extreme and discriminatory voting restrictions, lawmakers were pressured by public protests, civil rights groups, and corporations (like Coca-Cola, Delta Air Lines, and Major League Baseball). Although the bill became law, a strong coalition has succeeded at reversing parts of the law and continues to chip away at its most egregious elements.
- In 2021, Virginia became the first state in the South to enact its own Voting Rights Act. In the absence of federal protections, it prohibits discrimination in voting, allows individuals to sue over voter suppression, and requires local election officials to obtain public feedback before changing voting practices.
- In wins for Native American voting rights, a legal settlement in North Dakota now allows voting without a residential addresses—a common circumstance on reservations. In Montana, two laws would have prevented Native American communities from collecting ballots due their remote locations and lack of mail services, but were blocked by a state court.
- Although not without implementation issues, Florida voters passed Amendment 4, restoring voting rights to an estimated 1.4 million Floridians with prior felony convictions. This effort re-enfranchised a staggering ten percent of Florida adults with nearly 65% support.
While anti-democratic efforts like Project 2025 seek to turn back the clock to a time when only White, male landowners could vote, they are outnumbered. Using strategies that include public pressure, civic engagement, lawsuits, and state-level initiatives, Americans are working to restore and expand the right to vote—and succeeding.
What concerned citizens can do
While voter suppression is a complex and entrenched issue, you can take small steps today to move our nation toward progress and voter liberation.
- Verify your voter registration: Ensure you are current and that your information is up-to-date this week, then encourage five friends to do the same: vote411.org/check-registration.
- Volunteer on election day: Protect the Vote needs volunteers to field voter concerns on Election Day. Training is provided.
- Give an ID: Project ID provides dignity to the millions of Americans who need an ID to vote and become a full member of their community. Donate if you can (and tell them AoCC sent you).
- Join something: Don’t go it alone; join groups already working to reverse voter suppression and advocate for fair voting laws. Check out League of Women Voters, Fair Fight Action, and When We All Vote. We accomplish more when we work together.
Please share your thoughts in the comments.