Recording: A Look at Voter Suppression in the U.S.

Free and fair elections are foundational for any healthy democracy. In this installment of Meetup’s Dismantling Social Injustice series, we discuss the state of elections in the United States, including new bills that seek to limit voter turnout.
Watch Jessica Ring Amunson of Jenner & Block and Jonathan Diaz of Campaign Legal Center for a discussion of historical and contemporary attempts at voter suppression. You’ll also hear from Stephanie L. Young of When We All Vote (WWAV), who will share advice for how we can take action now.

Main Takeaways on Voter Suppression:

• Jessie: We are seeing a rash of new laws proposed and enacted across the country that restrict the right to vote in various ways and I see those laws as falling into five main buckets: 
  1. Restrictions on voting by mail
  2. Restrictions on early voting
  3. Restrictions and new regulations on in-person voting
  4. Restrictions relating to voter registration
  5. New restrictions on local election officials
• Jonathan: In many cases, these bills that are being proposed or passed and states are adding additional bureaucratic obstacles that voters will have to jump through in order to be able to cast their ballot.
• Jessie: Heritage Foundation database shows that there are 1322 “proven instances of voter fraud in the United States since the early 1980s.” The fact that there are 1322 proven instances of voter fraud across 40 years of elections is just mind-boggling.

WWAV’s Call to Action:

• Stephanie: We want to give you the tools and resources to take action in your own ways to make sure that you’re not only registered and ready to vote but you are also informed about what’s happening in Washington DC and in statehouses around you.
• Join us now by going to WhenWeAllVote.org and calling or tweeting your Senators to urge them to pass the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
  • Join the fight for a fair and accessible democracy for every American.
  • Call or tweet your federal lawmakers, and tell them to support expanding voting rights for all Americans.
  • WWAV Call Tool/ Voting Principles

Top Q&A Questions/Resources:

• From your experience, how are voters’ or constituents’ voices measured against the voices of lobbyists and large donors?
  • Stephanie: You can never, I think, underestimate the power of the people and
 the voice of the people, and what they’re most afraid of is not being elected. So if we are able to cause enough noise and ruckus and keep these issues not just in the news, but we’re making these phone calls or tweeting were consistently having
 this barrage of good noise coming, they can’t ignore that. 
• Is there a website or other resource to show what each state’s new restrictions or voting requirements are?
  • Jonathan: If you’re looking to see what the rules are in your jurisdiction in particular, your number one resource should be your local election officials.
 And then as far as what’s going on on the national level, 
there are a number of really great nonpartisan organizations that track all of these legislative changes, both the ones that have passed and also the ones that have been proposed to be debated.
    • State Voting Bills Tracker 2021 | Brennan Center for Justice
    • Voting Rights Lab tracker
• Additional resources:
  • National Conference of State Legislatures bill tracking
  • The Heritage Foundation voter fraud database

Last modified on May 28, 2021