Elections have been a hallmark of the US democracy for over two centuries. Yet as we head into the November election, the nation is facing a novel set of challenges to voting due to Covid-19. The pandemic is throwing obstacles to the election process in various ways:
· It is harder to conduct voter drives in person to help people register
· It is harder for people to physically show up at a voting area increasing the need for mail-in ballots
· It is harder to count ballots in a timely manner as there may be delays in mail delivery and mail receipt
Underlying all these new difficulties, is an old problem – there is disagreement on who should be allowed to vote. If asked people generally agree that every citizen should have the right to vote, nonetheless local, state and federal authorities have created barriers to voting in the past few years in order to exclude certain populations. These restrictions are:
1. Population Disenfranchisement occurs when officials use precise legislative measures to prevent certain populations from voting. Examples include:
· Local governments removing polling booths especially amongst underprivileged African-American communities.
· States, like North Dakota, implementing laws denying Native American population registration because individuals on reservations do not have a street address.
· In Florida a constitutional amendment restoring voting rights to ~1.4 million ex-Felons was recently restricted in the 11th Circuit Court as lawmakers insisted that individuals had to pay all financial court fees before being allowed to vote (essentially a poll tax). These felons are predominantly people of color.
· Gerrymandering at the Federal government level which redraws district lines to benefit certain parties has been used by both parties. A recent supreme court ruling on this effectively recused courts from ruling on egregious examples and placed the power at state legislative levels to make revisions based on the 2020 census.
2. Voter ID Restrictions prevent citizens from voting if they do not have the correct set of government issued identifications. They are broad legislative measures, which predominantly impact poorer and rural citizens who do not have the time, financial resource or physical ability to acquire the documents. The ACLU estimates that about 21 million US citizens may be affected by these restrictions.
3. Finally, Voter Purging laws remove registered voters from the voting lists because of inactivity in recent years. Governor Brian Kemp effectively used this tool from 2012-2018 in Georgia by removing about 1.4 million voters and helping him win the governorship over Stacey Abrams.
As we all think of ways to help the elections this year, here are a few things that I am doing.
1. Talking to people I interact with at work or personally and make sure they are aware on how to register to vote. I am also talking to individuals who I infrequently interact with, e.g. housekeepers, trainers. If they need help and have on-line access, I send them these links to walk them through the process: IWillVote.com or Vote.gov
2. Depending on party affiliation, you can find sites that encourage voter outreach. I signed up with Vote Forwardto send letters to individual voters.
3. On election day, I have signed up to work at my polling station in Suffolk County. Go to your county election site to find out how to do this. If you live in New York City you can use this site.
Finally, if you or someone you know is facing registration or voter suppression, here’s a guide on what to do. You can also call 1-866-OUR-VOTE or 1-888-VE-Y-VOTA (en Español) to ask for help.
As we race towards the climax of our current drama in November, let’s hope that all citizens have a voice on the composition of our leadership.
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