Some states discourage voter participation by imposing arbitrary requirements and severe penalties on voters and election officials who violate these rules. In Georgia, lawmakers have criminalized providing food and water to voters lining up at the polls — notoriously long lines in Georgia, especially for communities of color. In Texas, people have been arrested and sentenced to outrageous sentences that amount to innocent mistakes during the electoral process. ACLU clients Crystal Mason and Hervis Rogers are examples of this blatant treatment. The states with the strictest laws tend to be those that were previously required to obtain prior federal approval under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 before enacting new election laws. The Shelby County V Holder decision ended this pre-approval measure, which was intended to prevent discriminatory action by Jim Crow states. The 15th Amendment gave African-American men the right to vote in 1870. But many have not been able to exercise this right. Some states have used literacy tests and other barriers to make voting difficult. Reduction of voting hours. Like limiting early voting, reducing voting hours can make voting less convenient and even impossible for many voters. Low-income and working-class people often have less freedom to be late, leave work early, or take a break from their shift in the middle of the day.
Parents with rigid childcare arrangements may be affected in the same way. In his testimony before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in 2008, DFL President and CEO John Payton lamented the low U.S. turnout. Noting that barriers to voting disproportionately affect the disadvantaged and the poor, he stressed the need to strengthen voter engagement programs, voter education and registration advertising to create a more inclusive electoral environment. For our democracy to achieve a higher level of political participation, Payton said, « positive efforts must be made to ensure that more citizens register and vote in our elections. » LDF believes that removing barriers to voting is at the heart of efforts towards an inclusive democracy. Voting is easy! Right? If you have the right to vote – you are of legal age, you are a citizen, you have not been convicted criminally and you have not been declared incompetent by a judge – then there should be no reason why you should not participate, right? Unfortunately, it`s not that simple. There are still millions of people who do not vote in elections, even if they have no legal obstacles. And it`s certainly not because they`re all apathetic or lazy and just don`t bother to choose.
In fact, there are many reasons why people continue to have difficulty exercising their right to vote, even if they want to participate. Some states offer « curbside voting » when an election official brings everything you need to vote to your car. The Electoral Assistance Commission (EAC) helps people overcome language barriers when voting. Estonia has invested in ways to make it easier for citizens to vote, remove barriers and provide transparent information. Having an accessible polling station with voting machines for voters with disabilities Voter identification laws often resemble modern voting taxes — the series of Jim Crow financial barriers designed to disenfranchise blacks — because they put a price on voting that excludes certain demographic groups. While these barriers may affect any eligible voter, they affect a disproportionate number of communities. For example, election closures in non-white neighborhoods in Georgia and other states have led to long lines. Queues can prevent eligible voters from voting. Similarly, reducing early voting opportunities or restricting mail-in voting has made it more difficult for low-income workers, who are more likely to be unable to leave work during the workday. In some municipalities, strict voter card requirements also disproportionately affect Black voters, younger voters, older voters and women, who may have more difficulty obtaining or maintaining the necessary identification documents. The work to ensure that all eligible voters can effectively vote becomes increasingly important as new barriers are quickly erected. This was a key issue for our lawyers working on several cases related to election protection in 2021.
Politicians often use unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud to justify registration restrictions. In 2011, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach lobbied for a law requiring Kansas to provide « proof of citizenship » to register to vote, citing false claims about non-citizen voting. Most people don`t have the required documents with them — like a passport or birth certificate — and, as a result, the law has blocked registrations of more than 30,000 Kansans. The ACLU sued and rejected the law in 2018. In 2020, the Supreme Court and a 10th District appeals court upheld the decision. Another topic is childcare. There are many ways in which child care could create a barrier to voting. Additional child care on election day may be required to allow for pre- or post-work voting. This could be a caregiver parent who does not normally use child care but cannot bring young children to choose from, especially if there is the possibility of long lines. « We`re fighting a lot of misinformation about the reliability of absentee ballots or misinformation about fraud or security when it comes to absentee voting, » Wenger said. « And the truth is that most states have had some form of mail-in voting for years and the evidence shows that it works. » You can protect the integrity of absentee voting by asking lawmakers to support the USPS, investigate how to vote by mail-in ballot, and deliver your ballot well in advance of Election Day. LDF has long advocated for an inclusive democracy that represents all Americans.
We believe that voting is one of the most sacred means of political participation and we are committed to breaking down barriers between individuals and elections. To ensure lawmakers are aware of the obstacles preventing Americans from voting, LDF lawyers often testify before Congress on a variety of issues. In recent years, LDF lawyers have provided expert testimony on specific electoral hurdles and proposed ways to remove them. Reduction of early voting. States and municipalities have long used early voting to reduce the Election Day crisis and open up the process to potential voters tied to work or other commitments.