Protecting Voting Rights

Essential Question: How can communities, organizations and citizens of all ages help protect and expand voting rights?

There is an ongoing debate as to whether current election laws (which are largely under the control of each state), are sufficient to protect the rights of voters. Many are concerned that laws aimed at restricting voter access disproportionately harm people of color, and those with low income. On the other hand, there is a great deal of worry that election laws are too loose, allowing for voter and election fraud to impact the outcome of elections. While all agree that the right to vote must be protected, there is disagreement about what that protection might look like. How do you think communities, organizations, and citizens can work to protect the right to vote?

Key Terms:

15th Amendment: amendment (1870) to the Constitution of the United States that guaranteed that the right to vote could not be denied based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

Voting Rights Act of 1965: Signed into law on August 6, 1965, the Voting Rights Act protected the right to vote for all citizens and made methods used to obstruct voter registration illegal, such as poll taxes and literacy tests. This required counties with a history of voter suppression to get changes to voting access approved before putting them into place. This was largely overturned in a Supreme Court decision in 2013.

Voter Suppression: A term used to describe a variety of tactics that make it harder for people to vote. In the past, this may have included literacy tests and poll taxes, more recently, these tactics may include reduction to early polling access, reduction of the number of polling places, strict voter ID laws, voter purges, and disenfranchisement (many states offer ex-felons an opportunity to regain voting rights, but not all do). Many people are concerned that these measures disproportionately impact poor communities, people of color, and people with disabilities, making it harder and more time-consuming to vote.

Voter Intimidation: Voter intimidation includes any action intending to interfere with a person's right to vote. In recent elections, people have been accused of gathering near polling areas, in some cases armed, taking photos of people who are voting, looking over someone's shoulder while voting, yelling at or disrupting voters, etc. While voter intimidation is a federal crime bearing a $1,000 fine, not all states are in agreement as to what constitutes voted intimidation.

Voter/Election Fraud: These are intentional, illegal actions taken by individuals or groups (even from outside the US) to influence the outcome of an election. Voter fraud could include impersonation, voting while ineligible, ballot stuffing, duplicate votes, miscounting or destruction of ballots, presenting artificial results, etc.

Election Integrity: Term used to describe the credibility or trustworthiness of the process and results of an election. In recent years, there is increased concern that voter fraud is impacting the results of elections.

Voter Turnout: The number of eligible voters who vote in an election. Voter turnout tends to be higher when there is a very high-stakes race on the ballot, such as a Gubernatorial or Presidential race. Voter turnout tends to be lower for primary and midterm elections:

Primary Election: An election to determine a party's candidate for President, Governor, or members of legislation (Democrat, Republican) prior to Election Day in November. People can only vote for the candidates who match their party registration.

Midterm Election: The election held near the midpoint of a President's term, at which the entire House of Representatives is up for re-election, as well at 2/3 of the state governors, and 1/3 of the Senate. This is a very big deal because it can shift the power balance form one party to another.

Gerrymandering: Also called redistricting, this involves changing the boundaries of a voting district to favor a candidate or party.