It’s a week after the midterm elections and we still don’t know the full extent of the blue wave. Here’s what we do know. Even though vote suppression was at its ugliest, Americans navigated the obstacles in record numbers to renounce Donald Trump’s version of nationalism. We were reminded that race continues to affect our voting experience, especially in Republican controlled states.
“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
Yet, Republicans have made voting harder every election season. First, they introduced restrictive voter ID laws. The list of acceptable ID appeared arbitrary, but was designed to make getting the accepted ID more difficult for traditional Democratic voters: people of color, students, seniors, and women, especially women of color.
Republicans also reduced or eliminated early voting days and reduced voting hours.
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
The gerrymandering got worse to the point that a court found in one especially notable case, the Republican law makers gerrymandered districts in North Carolina with “laser precision”. The thing about gerrymandering is it either seeks to minimize the effectiveness of votes by people of color, or it seeks to bury their votes in a sea of white Republican votes. Gerrymandering is a bipartisan practice, that will continue no matter who controls state legislatures, as long as politicians are drawing the maps. But, Republicans are without dispute the worst offenders.
For the first time ever, people who were running for election were also in charge or running the election. Rick Scott, the outgoing governor of Florida is also running against Bill Nelson for a seat in the U.S. Senate.
A more direct case is seen in Georgia where Brian Kemp, as Secretary of State ran for governor while running the election. This mean Kemp decided on the implementation and application of Georgia’s electoral law, and as such empowered him to disenfranchise voters who are more likely to vote for his opponent.
Despite unabashed voter intimidation by the President of the United States, as reflected in this tweet,
All levels of government and Law Enforcement are watching carefully for VOTER FRAUD, including during EARLY VOTING. Cheat at your own peril. Violators will be subject to maximum penalties, both civil and criminal!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 21, 2018
This is not new. Republicans in Wisconsin and Ohio displayed billboards with a similar message in predominantly minority neighborhoods during the 2012 election.
What is new, is the president of the United States openly engaging in voter intimidation.
The fact remains, there are generally two voting experiences in America that are dependent on the color of your skin. That has always been true. The difference is one of degree.
If you’re white, making your voice heard was infinitely easier than if you are black or brown. You have convenient voting places and working voting machines. Both of these mean voting takes less time, and thus you are less likely to lose time at work.
Election officials won’t ‘forget” to send power cords or your modern, functioning voting machines. Your poll station won’t get moved out of town. And, unless you are a veteran it’s very unlikely that your president and your governor won’t say your vote shouldn’t be counted.
If you’re a person of color, you know a very different voting experience. Everything about elections favors the white person. That begins with the voter ID list that favors the sort of identification that white people are more likely to have – like gun licenses. Odds are you have to take time off from work to vote on election day, so you prefer early voting or voting by absentee ballot.
Unfortunately, Republicans reduced early voting and absentee ballots or eliminated them. You may be someone for whom voting was both a civic responsibility and a community activity that took place on a Sunday after church. Republicans made souls to the polls harder in Ohio in 2014. The assault on “souls to the polls” was deliberate and incremental in Florida, beginning in 2011.
After you make the longer commute to your polling place, odds are you will have to wait longer and undergo more scrutiny than someone who is white.
After all, that, if Donald Trump, Rick Scott, Brian Kemp and supporters like Senator Marco Rubio have their way, odds are higher of your voted not being counted. Trump “declared” Brian Kemp the winner in Georgia before all the votes were counted.
The exact match law enacted in 2007 by Georgia was an effort to disenfranchise people of color, especially if they are also naturalized citizens. One space too many in your name, as it appears in records is enough to disenfranchise you. The same thing happens if you’re name is spelled differently – as a result of clerical error.
The exact signature match law would be laughable if it’s misapplication didn’t result in disenfranchising voters – like former Congressman Patrick Murphy.
Unlike other vote suppression tactics, this one doesn’t target people based on race. After all, everyone’s signature changes over time, regardless of gender, race or income level.
If, according to people who are not experts in handwriting analysis, your signature is not the same as the one on record, you lose your right to vote. Even if you are the widow of a recently deceased Republican Senator. Republicans actually sued to demand that mail in votes wouldn’t be counted at all.
It didn’t work, as Senator-Elect Kyrsten Sinema, can attest.
Fact: Everyone’s signature changes over time. I know my signature changed dramatically for a period a few years ago when I broke the wrist of my writing hand. And for several months after the cast came off, my signature looked nothing like the way it did for years. That was a temporary change. But, if you have a neurological illness, the change can be as dramatic and permanent.
If someone decides you are not the same person because your signature doesn’t match the one on file, too bad, your vote isn’t counted.
Then there’s the 2018 version of the hanging chad in Florida.
In a tweet, Angie Angers explains how the “over vote” can result in a machine erroneously not counting your vote.
This is an example of an overvote. According to Mike Bennett, Manatee County Supervisor of Elections, this is one of the ballots the machine flagged as having voted for two candidates in the same race. A ballot like this would be processed in a manual recount @BN9 pic.twitter.com/1q9GRUN3fI
— Angie Angers (@angie_angers) November 13, 2018
Voter intimidation made a comeback, in the form of threatening presidential tweets, but that’s not where it ended.
One example that got national attention was when black seniors were ordered off a bus headed for the polls by a county clerk. The clerk claimed it was illegal for people to travel to the polls in a group.
We really need a modernized version of the Voting Rights Act if we are to achieve a voting experience that is color blind. By that I mean all votes should be counted and your voting experience should be determined by your party affailiation, your skin color or the neighborhood you live in.
Former contributor.
