Header Image/Article Cover via Audrey Kreick, 2021

the war on voting rights: from local to federal, past to present

Jonah Rand, Reporter

Politics

Art made by Audrey Kreick, 2021.

The Founding Fathers ratified the Constitution of the United States on June 21, 1788. The Constitutional Convention, made up of white, educated, land-owning men, crafted the foundation of our republic according to their preconceived notion about what was moral: only white, land-owning men over the age of 21 should have the right to vote. Consequently, as our republic began its democratic practices, it left behind non-landowning men, women, Native Americans, and Black slaves without a voice in our democracy.

More than halfway into the next century, the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified on February 3, 1870. However, there were many legislative and logistical obstacles to African Americans’ right to vote. Louisiana was the first state to pass legislation limiting African Americans’ suffrage: a Grandfather Clause. This clause kept slave descendants out of elections by barring their right to vote unless their grandfather had voted— an impossibility for most people whose ancestors were slaves. This clause spread to many states. The next wave was Jim Crow laws (laws that legalized racial segregation), which sustained a White run republic.

The story was different for women's right to vote. Women began considering suffrage during the American Revolution; Abigail Adams’ infamous letter to her husband is a testament to that. Women’s suffrage started on a larger scale in the mid-19th century, but it was decades later until they were granted the right to vote, beyond the lifetime of the original grassroots leaders. The 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920, finally guaranteeing women the right to vote without infringement by the government.

This brings our Republic to now, a contentious time in the United States that has brought a fierce political, legal, and social battle between the Democrats’ push for looser voting laws and rights and the Republican’s advocacy for the opposite: restricting access to voting accessibility.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought isolation nationwide, and with a presidential election around the corner, Democrats jumped on the opportunity to expand mail-in-voting access. Arguing that citizens should have the right to have safe, socially distant ways to vote, most blue states expanded mail-in voting. For example, in Harris County, Texas, Democrats begin drive-thru voting to provide access to more eligible voters. California, with more than 22 million registered voters, expanded mail-in-voting to automatically send ballots in the mail to all registered voters. Washington State has operated one of the most efficient and best mail-in voter systems out of the 50 states. However, Kim Wyman, the Republican Secretary of State, and the rest of the executive branch and legislative branch did not see a necessary need to expand voting rights in Washington.

On the night of the 2020 election, “Decision Night in America'' flashed across screens around the United States. Americans began to receive the first results for crucial swing states: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, Arizona, Nevada, and Florida. It was time for the Democrats to see if their political strategy paid off. However, preliminary results were not looking great for the Democrats— they were down in all states. Around 8 p.m., the big states began to be called: Tennessee for Trump and Massachusetts, Virginia, and Illinois for Biden. The big calls came between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. Florida, which looked promising for the Democrats, turned red on the electoral map, the first major disappointment for the Democrats. However, their luck turned in one state: Arizona. Around midnight, Arizona was called for Biden by the Associated Press. This brought the first upset from Republicans but would compound with what was to follow in suit. It looked as if decisive results for a projection for many states would not be called until later that day or even within the following days.

Around noon the following day, it was Michigan and Wisconsin’s turn to turn a decisive color. Democrats were on a low from the night before, and Trump had a consistent lead in both states. However, Biden’s numbers had been chipping away overnight, and with rejoicing from the Democrats and scowling from the Republicans, both the states flashed blue on the electoral map. The first of the major out-cries from the Republicans began, questioning how the Democrats could have carried the state if Trump had a significant lead over Biden the night before. They accused “fraud.”

It was quite a long wait to get the results of the final five states: Alaska, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, and Nevada. Finally, the following Saturday after the election, while families were gathering, people working, or some still asleep on the West coast, Pennsylvania gave Biden the final edge over 270. While Alaska expectantly did not follow suit and turned to Trump along with North Carolina. Nevada and Georgia brought the last 22 electoral votes for Biden.

Biden was swift to deliver an acceptance speech and attempt to calm the anger shed by Republicans over the electoral results, calling for what is now the most significant word of the Biden presidency: unity. Trump did not concede that night but confidently swung onto a path that led down a road of election mistrust. The results were shocking to him, his supporters, and the Republican party, and they started a movement claiming election fraud.

The election results did not roll over well with Republicans in multiple swing states. As a result, Republican-majority state legislatures, county officials, and Republican lobbyists began the groundwork for audits far beyond the election. Most notable was Arizona’s Maricopa County election audit. Maricopa County began its presidential ballot audit in April of 2021. Cybersecurity firm, Cyber Ninja, overseen by the Arizona State Senate, conducted the ballot audit. Doug Logan was a big proponent of election fraud claims while also admitting that his firm had no experience with election audits. After months, the audit published on Sept. 24 found no widespread voter fraud, which some Right-wing pundits claimed. The only major finding was that Biden won the county with 360 more votes than what was reported by the final vote count. The Associated Press spoke with Matt Masterson, a Trump administration election security agent, who said, “‘What we have learned from all this is that the Ninjas were paid millions of dollars, politicians raised millions of dollars, and Americans’ trust in democracy is lower,’” (Christe, Cassidy). While the audit failed to show any legitimate results, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, both states where Republicans hold a majority in the state Senate and House, sought options for their similar audits to Maricopa County’s back in early September.

Come January, it was another gray winter day in Washington D.C., and a crowd began to gather around the United States Capitol Building. Inside, both houses of Congress gathered to ratify the electoral vote count. The crowd outside grew larger and louder. Trump, American, and "Don't Tread on Me" flags waved in the wind. These protesters were there to contest the results of the 2020 election and reiterated the word heard countless times: "fraud," as in, election fraud. The Capitol Police attempted to hold a barrier line around the Capitol, but as swaths of the crowd encroached and pushed against their shield, it was inevitable. The line broke. Swiftly, with a chaotic push, hundreds of protesters surged towards the Capitol. The sound of glass breaking resonated through the building. Capitol Police officer, Eugene Goodman, rushed away from the crowd, alerting nearby Sen. Mitt Romey (R-UT) to vacate the area. Doors of a congressional office and both chambers of Congress shut. Protesters swarmed throughout the Capitol, aiming to interrupt the democratic practices of our republic. The protesters all shared a core view: election fraud is real— Biden stole the 2020 election.

Texas, the poster-child Republican state, and others, developed a new voter law: Texas Senate Bill 1. The new law increases restrictions on access and the dissemination of knowledge about voting. Under Section 276.016, the bill states that if a public official sends out unrequested ballot application forms for mail-in voting, that is considered a felony. This limits politicians’ ability to spread a “get the vote out” campaign. The bill also includes new restrictions on voting: “A polling place may not be located in a tent or similar temporary moveable structure or in a facility primarily designated for motor vehicles. No voter may cast a vote from inside a motor vehicle,” (TX SB1). Democrats in Harris County have been the only county in the state to establish drive-thru voting. Harris County is the largest, urbanized, and most diverse county, making it one of the bluest counties in Texas and most impacted by the bill. The law also standardizes nine hours for a polling place to operate and may not be open earlier than 6 a.m. and 9 p.m., another limit on Democratic Harris County’s elections.

Democrats have attempted to limit the power of Republicans on a national and statewide level. In Texas, some Democrat senators of the state legislature left the state to restrict the process of Republicans passing S.B. 1. Once returning, members of the legislature participated in a filibuster to limit the passage of the bill. On a national level, H.R. 4 has sat in the Senate’s hands. Named after the late John Lewis, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act aimed to be the Democrats’ path to stemming Republican’s voter restrictions on the national level, as Democrats do not have any political power in states that have been passing restrictive laws such as Georgia, Texas, and Ohio.

The Republicans have now gone through a series of recounts during and right after the 2020 election. Afterward, a majority continued the false narrative that there had been election fraud, which empowered the January 6 Capitol Riot. The claims resonated into the Maricopa County election audit and translated into new voter restriction laws in Republican states around the nation. There has been a disconnect; Republicans continue claiming that the election was stolen, leading to stricter voting laws, as the Texas bill stated, to ensure electron integrity. But with the hesitancy and mistrust coming from the Right side of the aisle and with Republicans reacting to their own chaos, can our republic entrust that this won’t spiral out of hand?

DISCLAIMER: The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed by the various authors in this paper do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of Kamiak High School or The Gauntlet.