2024 Presidential Election Advocacy Part 2- Unlawful Disenfranchisement: How Voter Suppression Has Been Used Against Marginalized Groups
Please read “Unlawful Disenfranchisement: How Voter Suppression Has Been Used Against Marginalized Groups” before this post to have more context.
The mailing system can have a strangely large effect on voter suppression, a deviation from the topic of Mickey Mouse from the previous blog yet still exceedingly relevant. Humans seek ease, with busy lives and careers waiting in line for 5 hours is improbable to most. With this fact came the invention of mail-in-ballots which functioned as a deceptive form of oppression against marginalized groups. In the 2020 presidential election, 86% of New Jersey voted by mail highlighting its importance. Observing Georgia again, the Documentary Suppressed The Fight To Vote discovered that in 2019 Fulton County, Georgia 21,190 provisional ballots were cast- 83% were from a non-white demographic- and yet only 11,872 were counted. Only half of the original total was counted. With context, having a near 50% of ballots go uncounted is astronomically prejudicial, most Southern states with these same practices have increased rates of ignoring or rejecting mail-in ballots. Louisiana and Mississippi had a collective rejection rate that was 2.5 times higher than the national average in the 2020 election. Observing these states reveals a correlation with rejection and suppression laws, such as ID and signature.
These laws create incredible difficulty and inability to vote, a fact prominently seen in Texas. The Texas S.B. 1 law reinforced mail-in ballots- which can have easily altered numbers and rejection rates-, voter intimidation, and caustic ID laws. It is a problem that lies in the foundation of society, those with affluence and power remain in high-performing positions through the creation of such laws. Many politicians and political groups rely on voter suppression to perpetuate the social patterns seen, expounded upon by the American Civil Liberties Union “Trump and his administration attempted to suppress immigrant voters by questioning citizenship on the 2020 census, the official population count of 2020.” (Block the Vote: How Politicians are Trying to Block Voters from the Ballot Box, Aug 18, 2021). Moreover, the Brennan Center for Justice reports that in 2023 only, 150 senate bills were proposed with a direct correlation to disenfranchisement. The Brennan Center also found that the implementation of the Texas S.B. 1 law increased application and ballot rejections to 12,000 and 25,000 respectively with a high propensity to disadvantage communities of color (Black and Hispanic specifically, however).
From The Seattle Times
I think it says a lot about our society that we would quite literally reject the thoughts of those we don’t like. The point remains the same, voter suppression is stripping away the rights of the people and denying them the invaluable freedom of voting. Voter suppression is only festering hate and dividing Americans into completely opposing political parties. Though it may be difficult, the fact that past elections may have been skewed must be accepted. Voter suppression ultimately comes back to systemic racism and bias, to come close to the rights stated discriminatory disenfranchisement first needs to be eliminated.