Eight states passed 9 laws this year that make it harder for people to vote (and many more have such laws pending, or have introduced them). This is on top of restrictive voting laws passed in almost half of the states in the last 5 years. State legislatures shouldn't have to be reminded that the vote is one of the most important aspects of a representative democracy. Everyone who is of age and hasn't had voting rights taken away because of a particular act (felons, I believe, shouldn't be able to vote while serving their sentences, but once they've paid that debt to society, the right should automatically revert to them) should be able to vote. It should be easy to register and easy to participate in our democracy.
It's probably not a surprise that the vast majority (83%) of those restrictive voting laws were passed in red states, by Republicans (although at least one, Virginia, just elected Democrats to the top statewide offices, so maybe the issue will be revisited). And that such laws were more likely to be passed in legislatures that were becoming more Republican-dominated. The reason often cited for these laws, "widespread voter fraud," is bogus; no matter how many taxpayer dollars Republicans spend looking for the kind of voter fraud these laws might prevent, they can't find any. And they're really trying.
The US Supreme Court this year decided that because the Voting Rights Act was "working," one of its most important aspects--pre-clearance for states with bad records on voting rights issues--should be done away with. One can hardly argue with their reasoning. After all, any time a law works, you get rid of it, right? That's why as homicides decrease nationwide, we've eliminated laws against murder, and... oh, wait. We don't do that.
Also unsurprisingly (to anyone, apparently, but five SCOTUS justices), the states that have recently enacted more restrictive voting laws just happen to be states with higher black turnout, come election day. Republicans want to make it harder for black folks to cast their votes. But there's no racism going on here. The racism, Republican officials explain, is only incidental to the effort to keep Democrats from voting.
That makes me feel a lot better.
Fortunately for the nation, in 10 states, 13 bills expanding voter access were passed. These laws make registration easier, extend early voting hours, and the like. Given that our population keeps growing and more and more votes are being cast (particularly in presidential election years), we need more of this kind of thing, and less of the other. The Presidential Commission on Election Administration reports that "Nearly half of Americans live in precincts where long lines at the voting booth were a problem in the 2012 election cycle." And yet, Republican officials want to make voting more challenging instead of less.
One wonders when exactly they decided that since they couldn't win elections on the merits, they would have to start winning them by preventing the other side from exercising their Constitutional right. Could it have been around the time a black man was elected President? Or is that just a silly coincidence?
The Brennan Center for Justice has just issued a set of recommendations to improve access to the polls. One has to hope that the people with the power to put these into effect are paying attention.
