This week is all about the millions of Americans who turned out to vote in the midterm election. Those citizens determined the next term’s leaders and decided whether or not propositions passed. In short, they had a say in choosing the people and policies that will shape their lives to come. Not everyone was given this opportunity, however. Also this week, while some flocked to local middle schools or churches or wherever their nearest polling place may have been, thousands of Americans unwillingly and unconstitutionally had to stay home.
For a while, it seemed like America was headed in the right direction. From the Civil War onwards, the country was churning out constitutional amendments that secured greater access to the voting booth. In 1870, citizens gained the right to vote irrelevant of race. In 1920, women entered the polling place. In 1964, Congress updated voting rights by eliminating the poll tax, washing away a stain of racial inequality and beginning to truly offer suffrage to non-whites. Finally, in 1971, Congress ensured citizens aged 18 and older the right to vote.
But all of a sudden, certain policymakers are redesigning voter laws in the United States. Through insidious policies such as voter I.D. laws — not to mention gerrymandering and the multitude of other not-so-democratic practices — officials are muffling the voices of many.
“Who are these tyrants?!” You might be wondering. Well, in the case of Texas, where the strictest voter I.D. measures of the modern day just passed, it’s … you guessed it, the Republicans.
G.O.P. Governor Rick Perry and the equally red Texas legislature have championed the law, which requires voters to provide a Texas driver’s license, gun license, military I.D. or passport to cast a ballot. This is problematic because those forms of I.D. have a price tag; for example, although birth certificates are free, voters have been told to pay $23.
Such fees dissuade many, especially voters of color. Black voters are three times more likely than whites to lack the required I.D.s. U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos therefore attempted to strike down the law. She cited it as part of Republican strategy to suppress the Democratic votes of African Americans and Latinos.
When the case was presented to the Supreme Court, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg agreed. She emphasized that the law may prevent more than 600,000 registered citizens from voting in Texas, a disproportionate number of whom would be voters of color.
So, what happened to the 15th amendment — the right to vote regardless of race? And the 24th — the abolishment of the poll tax? While donning the blinders that come from a more progressive society under a Democratic President, we as Americans have not seen that voter I.D. laws are reigniting the injustices those constitutional amendments tried to solve. Non-white voters are becoming increasingly disenfranchised. And it doesn’t stop there...
The larger problem is that voter I.D. laws perpetuate a positive feedback loop of non-white voter suffering. Knowing that people of color tend to vote blue, Republicans are decreasing Democratic votes by enforcing voter I.D. laws. And knowing that Republican policy tends to veto social welfare programs, which overwhelmingly benefit African Americans and Latinos, one sees the lose-lose for people of color in the win-win for the G.O.P.
While I would like to believe that the issue of voting rights is beyond partisan pettiness, the aforementioned trends say otherwise. There are areas in politics that are not so black and white for me — or rather blue and red — but I unequivocally disagree with voter I.D. laws and, therefore, the Republican Party on this issue. Forcing voters to present identification marginalizes citizens who have already been suppressed throughout U.S. history; it keeps the judicial demerits of our country’s past alive and counteracts any advances constitutional amendments might have made.
Therefore, American voters (like those in the news this week whose rights were not taken from them) need to continue to turn out. First Lady Michelle Obama hit the nail on the head when she said that voting rights is the movement of our era. Those voters who are still in the game have the ability to elect politicians who will change voting I.D. laws and make sure that the rules of the game grow fairer. The Democrats are those politicians; they are on the right side of history, and each vote for a Democratic candidate keeps America on a just track.
Artwork by TAMIR WILLIAMS
