LWV Solano September 2021 Blog:
Our Challenge: American democracy is hanging by a thread because of active, purposeful voter suppression.
Fifty-six years ago, President Lyndon Johnson signed the 1965 Voting Rights Act into law, expanding the right to vote to tens of millions of disenfranchised Americans. This set our country on a path toward establishing a true multiracial democracy. In 2020, two thirds of the eligible voting population voted, more than in any other election in 120 years. Yet, voter suppression continues to attack democracy and a government of, by, and for the people.
Even though there are no laws that specifically state that Blacks, Native Americans, Latinos, the Asian-Pacific population, and college students, are prohibited from voting, doesn’t mean voter suppression isn’t real. Aggressive, voting restrictions are ripping the fabric of citizenship in response to the proliferation of the big lie about the legitimacy of President Biden’s election; which was in response to the massive, historically disenfranchised voter turnout; and because of inequitable redistricting, and gerrymandering. The result—our democracy is crumbling. In addition, here in California, we can add the Recall election rules to that list of attacks to a democracy built on the concept that the voting majority rules.
Voter Suppression and Rights History
Perhaps a little history can give perspective to this phenomena. Southern states were rife with White supremacy after Reconstruction. Whites-only democratic clubs and their armed militias set out to so call, purify the ballot box in many southern states. Political violence, assassination, and lynching enforced White rule at the expense of Black lives and Black voting rights.
In 1886 in a Texas precinct, when Black poll workers dared to fight back, three were lynched by a mob. Although no one was ever brought to justice for this heinous murder, the national outrage compelled Congress to hold hearings on voting practices plaguing the South. The result was the Federal Elections Bill of 1890. This legislation promised federal intervention to protect the right to vote in any state where it was threatened. The bill passed the House, but unfortunately, the Senate was unable, or perhaps, unwilling to overcome a filibuster threat. Afterward, throughout the former Confederacy, Whites-only primary laws and additional forms of Jim Crow voter suppression, including poll taxes, literacy tests, and extraordinary residency requirements, were put into effect.
It took 75 years of a relentless voting-rights movement before President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voters Rights Act into law. In 2013, the Voter Rights Act was stripped by the Supreme Court of its critical federal preclearance requirements for new, state voting laws.
WHAT WE CAN DO NOW
This bold democracy reform package is designed to make our democracy more inclusive, but history is repeating itself. Despite the massive November 2020 voter turnout, or perhaps because of it, many states have aggressively metastasized voter suppression in the form of voter ID laws, polling closures, drop-box reductions, and racially gerrymandered districts. Voters have faced a plethora of obstacles, including but not limited to, long lines, fewer polling places, shorter early voting periods, and wrongful purges of voter rolls. More than a dozen states have enacted new laws to make it easier to restrict voting access calculated to reduce the voter power of Black and Brown ethnicities, the poor, the young, as well as the old. And just like the Federal Elections Bill of 1890, the For the People Act has been thwarted by the threat of a filibuster in the Senate, raising the risk of dooming the bill to failure.
We the people must express our national outrage and relentlessly lobby elected officials to vote for the John Lewis Voting Rights Act to restore rather than decrease protections and reforms that will make elections more accessible to elevate the voice of all Americans. H.R.1, the For the People Act, promises to upgrade the voter registration process through the expansion of automatic voter registration, online voter registration, and same-day registration. We must seize this opportunity and rise to the challenge and encourage, not discourage, voter registration, and implore Congress to strengthen, not weaken our democracy; to implement these policies nationwide and reject racist, unjust, anti-voter measures to repair our political system.
We the people should participate in community mapping exercises. We must advocate for the passage of the For the People Act, (H.R.1) and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, designed to nullify voter suppression by addressing redistricting reform measures in addition to restrictive voting practices. Otherwise, suppression and oppression can become the norm. And California residents must Vote No on the Republican recall and defy a voting minority power grab.
“The right to vote is precious, almost sacred. People bled for it; died for it. Honor their sacrifice. Vote!” John Lewis
Considering the complexities of human nature, a government of, by and for the people is a lofty ideal to reach. And, in its pursuit, democracy imperfections are revealed and exploited, guaranteeing that the fight for democratic governance is a forever endeavor. Therefore, citizen participation is critical in the fight for democracy. And the perfect weapon with which to fight this never-ending imperfect battle is the right to vote.
It’s hard to understand why some believe their freedoms are more important than the freedoms of others; that their opportunities are more deserved than others; that government laws should protect them more than others; that their mistakes are less accountable than the mistakes of others; that their religion is more realistic than others; that their humanity and dignity are more respected than others; that their vote count and the votes of others shouldn’t.
What we do know is that Democracy, as imperfect as it is, by constitutional edict as well as by definition, (a government of, by, and for the people) promises equality and inclusion to All. And while the promises of Democracy are presently teetering on the brink of collapse with this infusion of restrictive voting opportunities, as well new partisan vote-counting regulations, not to mention a voting minority power grab, we the people, especially the League of Women Voters, have got to step up and honor the blood and lost life sacrificed to make sure that there’s not only equal access to voting but the right to vote—Democracy’s weapon against tyranny—if we are to keep hope alive and to have a fighting chance in the ongoing battle for everyone’s right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
