Voter suppression is when you proactively try to keep people who don't agree with your political or social views from voting. Voter suppression was used for 100 years after the Civil War to keep former African slaves from voting, and it was so successful, the black population in the south were kept in virtual slavery for 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation. The suppression took the form of both violent and non-violent strategies. The violent strategies: Beatings and lynchings. The non-violent methods included a poll tax an individual had to pay in order to vote. This disenfranchised both poor blacks AND poor whites who could not afford the tax. Another favorite non-violent strategy would to require the person trying to vote take a 'test' to prove his/her literacy and knowledge of history. No one passed if their skin was the wrong color.
Fast forward to the 21st century. Voter suppression is back! State legislatures around the country are making it more and more difficult to vote. First, voting by mail is much more restricted. If you are planning on requesting a ballot by mail, request early and make sure you know what the 'rules' are in order to get and return a ballot. Second, call the Voter Registration office in your county and double check that you are registered to vote. In Texas, for instance, the Governor is crowing he's removed 1 million people from the voter registration roles. Who was removed? First, some dead people, but second, PEOPLE WHOSE VOTER REGISTRATION ADDRESS DOESN'T MATCH THEIR DRIVER'S LICENSE ADDRESS. All those people are no longer registered to vote. Whether you live in Texas or not, you could be one of these people if your state has been winnowing down the voter registration records.
Here's something that happened to Drake and me. We went to get a Virginia Driver's License, and we signed an additional document attesting that we were eligible to vote and wanted to register. The procedure is the Virginia Dept of Transportation (where you go to get a Driver's License among other things) forwards your info to the County Voter Registration Office, and we assumed we were registered to vote and could use our Driver's License to vote. We trotted up to vote in the Primary Election in our local high school - our polling place with our new drivers' licenses. Well, lo and behold, we discovered we needed an actual Voter Card to prove our voter registration. Fortunately, the guy supervising the poll workers let us vote provisionally, and got our info sent immediately to the Voter Registration Office. It took TWO MONTHS to get the voter cards.
Another form of suppression taking place over the country is you may need special forms of identification along with your Voter Card in order to vote. It could be a passport, or the federal identification card (the driver's license that allows you to fly on an airplane). Know not only where you vote, but also what documentation you need to have with you in order to vote.
The time honored way to suppress the vote is by gerrymandering the voting districts. Gerrymandering is drawing voting districts in a tortured way to favor one political party. This practice goes all the way back to Eldridge Gerry, the Governor of Massachusetts in the early 1800's. He drew a new twisting district with boundaries which looked like a salamander and the new district boundaries favored his political party. Gerry + salamander is the origin of the word gerrymandering. Republican and Democratic state legislatures have brought back this practice in our heated political climate. This is a disservice to ALL the voters, Redrawing districts has become a new hobby of state legislatures.
Finally, after the votes are counted, a county clerk or other appointed official 'certifies the votes'. Certification means the votes have been counted and are ready to be added to the tally of all the votes. Certification is usually required within a certain time limit, so the votes can be counted expediently. Certification has been a requirement not a matter of discretion. New rules, especially in Georgia, is making certification a matter of discretion by the certification official. Basically, if you live in a place where certification is at the whim of some politically motivated bureaucrat, your vote may not be counted in a timely manner, or not at all if the votes are held up to favor one political view.
The days of assuming you can vote are at an end. Don't get caught being unable to vote. Call the voter registration office, or go on-line and learn what the rules are which allow you to vote. Voting is a right. Voting is also a duty. It's the biggest duty you have as a citizen. If you choose not to vote, then I'm not interested in your opinions because you forfeited the right to express them. THERE IS NO EXCUSE NOT TO VOTE. This year voting for President of the United States seems very important, and it is, but in reality the people you vote for on the City Council, for County Commissioner, for the School Board, and the other 'low level' people in public service are actually more crucial to your quality of life.
ELECTION DAY IS NOVEMBER 5TH - LET'S GET OUT THE VOTE.
