The Lesser of Two Evils - Voting Rights in 2024

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The Weight of Your Vote: Participating in the 2024 Election The 2024 election is inching closer and, despite assassination attempts and last minute drop outs from the race, a president from one of the two major parties will take office this coming year. Amidst global crises and tensions between the voices of citizens and big business, anti-voting sentiment has leaked into public discourse. Retired Professor of Education and Senior University Scholar at the University of Illinois William Ayers addresses this opinion in a blog post, titled “The Lesser of Two Evils: A Note on Voting 2024.” Beyond his career in education, Ayers is and always has been an activist, cofounding the Weather Underground, a left-leaning militant organization formed in opposition to the US involvement in the Vietnam War. Read his sentiment on the cruciality of voting this November, “The Lesser of Two Evils” below.

The Lesser of Two Evils: A Note on Voting 2024 Two different things can be true at the same time: the lesser of two evils is still evil; the lesser of two evils is lesser. More than one thing is happening at once. Contradiction—the universal experience of all humanity.

Think about the coming election: There are many, many reasons not to vote: perhaps you’re disconnected from politics and turned off by all the phoniness and mindless bickering; perhaps you recognize that the options are almost indistinguishable on the big issues—a choice between Teweedledum and Tweedledummer—and you agree with Karl Marx that bourgeois democracy offers nothing more than a ritual to decide, in effect, which member of the ruling class will misrepresent us; perhaps you see the ways that voting is corrupted by big money and manipulated by power, and you note that the political class represents a monied minority and that the electoral college makes voting irrelevant; or perhaps you’re organizing and acting toward more substantive change, and you embrace Rosa Luxemburg’s insight that if we could bring about a revolution through elections, voting would be illegal.

I get all that.

Still, I’ll go out and vote on election day, as I always have. And I always will. Here’s why: ~~Because I work as an organizer, activist, and engaged citizen, and I fight for a world at peace and in balance, a community built on joy and justice and powered by love for 365 days a year, and because voting takes 15 minutes and in no way distracts me from the substantive work I’m committed to doing day in and day out. ~~Because for me voting is, in the words of Rebecca Solnit, a chess move and not a valentine. My vote is not a love letter to any candidate, and it never has been. It is, rather, a tactical decision about the preferred landscape on which I’ll carry out my political work—my movement-making, community-building, abolitionist organizing, and pivots to peace. It’s also a recognition that, while the difference between the two major capitalist political parties is only an inch, a lot of vulnerable people exist within that inch. I also like Barbara Ransby’s analogy: voting is like brushing your teeth—it takes only a few minutes, but if you don’t do it, bad things could happen.

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~~Because non-voting doesn’t strike a blow for reform nor does it do a thing to diminish or abolish the core archaic institutions of anti-democracy—the electoral college, the supreme court, the senate—nor does it gesture toward a robust or participatory democracy. A coordinated collective campaign can be powerful—the movement to write in “Undecided” or “Gaza” during the 2024 Democratic Party primary was a brilliant tactic, and part of a larger strategy to put genocide and occupation on the national agenda. But not voting does not stick it to the man—it doesn’t even send a message. ~~Because you may not be interested in politics, but politics is interested in you. See cataclysmic capitalist climate collapse, for one clear example, or see the Dobbs decision for another ~~Because voter suppression is real—blatant ideological gerrymandering, new registration and ID requirements, shortened voting periods and fewer voting sites, limits on mail-in ballots, intimidation and bullying, felony disenfranchisement, vast sums of money poured into colorful and entertaining but rarely educational or illuminating ads, and more—it’s clear that the ruling class doesn’t want people to vote. So I’ll vote. ~~Because voting is a practical, not a moral matter, and it takes nothing away from my deeper and more sustained forms of engagement: organizing, demonstrating, acting up and acting out. ~~Because we are living in perilous times: a new and escalating cold war with China; a hot and destructive proxy war in Europe and a preannounced genocide against the Palestinian people of Gaza underway; raging and racialized police violence unchecked; environmental collapse on full display; fragile and often anemic democratic institutions on life support; religious authoritarianism on the rise; women’s bodily integrity under sustained assault. And because we’re also living in hopeful times—twenty-six million people took to the streets in 2020 in response to the police murder of George Floyd, the largest public outpouring for racial justice in history; the militant resistance to the US partnership with and complicity in the Israeli genocide of Palestinians, including the brilliant campus encampments and the widespread public disruptions; women across a wide political spectrum have refused to accept a medieval definition of their rights; labor has won historic, game-changing victories, from the Writers Guild of America to the United Auto Workers, and from Amazon to Starbucks; and broad forces are on the march worldwide to resist plunder and extraction and to preserve life on earth. Once again, more than one thing is happening at once, and so I wake up every day and glance at these words written on my wall: “Just to be alive on this fresh morning in the broken world.”

Contradiction. ~~Because I worked shoulder to shoulder with people who fought and died for our right to exercise the franchise, and I take that seriously. I think about the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Civil Rights martyrs James Chaney, Micky Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman. My vote is a blood debt to them. ~~Because people all over the world are dying—literally dying—for the right to vote. Voting is a fundamental right and responsibility in a free society—without the right to vote, and without exercising that right, we’re all a little less free. ~~And, finally because I think self-righteousness is annoying and always wrong, and so I don’t want to unite with my comrades and friends who are acting holier-than-thou as they smugly announce, “I’m so smart and wide awake that I didn’t even vote—like you suckers and pathetic sheep. How cool is that?” Not that cool.

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So, here we are—in a place not of our choosing. And no matter what you do, and no matter what I do, there will be a national election in November. Among other things, a president will be elected. I don’t actually think democracy is on the agenda as the Democrats say—and I wish it were—but a unique American fascism is surely on the agenda.

Here are four reasons you might want to vote for Donald Trump:

1. If you think that “America has forgotten how to win wars,” and that the American-endorsed and funded Israeli assault on the Palestinian people has been too restrained, and that Israel should “finish the job,” then vote for Trump.

2. If you think that women should have no right to control their own bodies, and that politicians should determine reproductive rights, vote for Trump.

3. If you think “global warming” is a hoax, vote for Trump.

4. And if you think the filthy rich should be allowed to live tax free, and that corporations should be allowed to function without public oversight, vote for Trump.

And here are four reasons to stay home and skip the election: If you think that “America has forgotten how to win wars,” and that the American-endorsed and funded Israeli assault on the Palestinian people has been too restrained, and that Israel ng masses of people; the ruling class adjusted, conceded (a bit), and backed up. But the central work then, as always, was not begging for change from above, but igniting and building an irresistible fire from below.

Whether you vote or not, I hope we can all open our eyes and pay attention to the world as it really is, allow ourselves to be astonished at the beauty and ecstasy in every direction as well as the unnecessary pain—exploitation, oppression, degradation—that people suffer, and then speak up and act out. Take up the most urgent work right now: join a community or a labor union, create a community coop, build a community group to monitor police activity, plant a community garden—note that the operative word here is “community.” Move from apathy and alienation to engaged participation, from toxic individualism to solidarity. Dive into the wreckage, arm-in-arm, shoulder-to-shoulder, heartto-heart, and work to reimagine and rebuild this broken world on a foundation of generosity, grace, and love.

Let’s go!

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Alice Paul Says, “VOTE AGAINST THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AS LONG AS IT BLOCKS SUFFRAGE” (June 11, 1920)

PROGRESS?

A Short History of American Suffrage

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Table of Contents The Lesser of Two Evils: A Note on Voting 2024 by William Ayers…… 3 The Birth of a “Free” Nation ………………………………………………… 5 The Right to Vote and the Reconstruction Amendments ………. 6 Women Reclaim the Right to Vote ……………………..……………….. 12 Voting in the American Colonies ………………………………………….. 24

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The Struggle to Vote is the Struggle to Control Your Life

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Voting in the American Colonies One of the first political events that occurred in Jamestown, America’s first settlement, was the elections for the colony’s legislative assembly, the House of Burgesses. The first representative government in what would become America, the House was formed to grant settlers a say in the colony’s laws. Two representatives, or Burgesses, were elected from each plantation in the colony, and assembled to discuss political matters at least once a year. However, franchise, or the right to vote, was certainly not universally granted. English principles were applied in Jamestown, limiting election participation to only a select group of wealthy people. Each colony had their own restrictions and exceptions for who was granted franchise. Typically, authority figures such as English officers, elected over settlements and colonies, appointed franchise solely to white males who owned property. Old English principles rationalized that those who had larger economic stake had keener interest in the long-term effects of governance than indentured servants, African slaves, or non-landowning women. Rules were unclear as to how much land had to be owned and for how long, allowing several men to purchase an acre of land a few days before an election to utilize loopholes. In the early 18th century this requirement was specified: men had to own 25 acres of land or 100 acres of undeveloped land for at least one year prior to the election. Although voting was uncommon at the time, most of the early colonists were restricted from doing so because of their unlikelihood of owning property.

Restrictive and Expansive Voting Laws in the American Colonial Period Minimum Age (1699)-- Men must be over 21 years old to vote Exclusion of Women (1699)-- Women could not be enfranchised.

Exclusion of Racial Minorities (1723)-- Men who were Black, Mulatto, or American Indian could not be enfranchised Property Ownership (1736)-- Men must own 25 acres of developed land or 100 acres of undeveloped land for at least a year prior to elections to vote. Established in the creation of Jamestown, set in stone in 1736

The influx of new servants and slaves significantly changed demographics and shifted the political landscape in the colonies. Elections determined the political system of the colonies, but the laws governing who could and could not vote limited suffrage to land-owning, wealthier men.

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The Birth of a “Free” Nation Who Builds the Voting Class?

In 1774 elected representatives from nearly all 13 colonies convened in Philadelphia to discuss how the colonists would rebel against ever-tightening British control. The group, including delegates such as George Washington and John Adams, became known as the First Continental Congress, and promoted free speech in an equitable environment. Just one month after the start of the Revolutionary War, in the spring of 1775, the Second Continental Congress met. Taking the greatest strides to preserve the strength of the colonies, the delegates voted to approve the Declaration of Independence, establishing America as a nation separate from the British Crown.

The Constitution as it is known today was not ratified until 1789, and it left the question of voting eligibility up to individual states. Consequently, and contradictory to the voter demographics of the colonies, not all states specified their voters as white males. New Jersey was notably broad; in its first 1776 state constitution, the gender of voters was not mentioned, nor was their race. Following the creation of the US Constitution, the New Jersey law was revised to explicitly state “he or she.” The state was the first to open up its polls to most of its citizens, before eventually stripping their voting class back down to white males by 1807.

Restrictive and Expansive Voting Laws in the Wake of the American Revolution: Exclusion of Women Voters, New York (1777): Voters must be “male inhabitants” Exclusion of Black and Women Voters, New Jersey (1807): “No person shall vote in any state or county election for officers in the government of the United States, or of this state, unless such person be a free, white, male citizen of this state.” –New Jersey State Legislature Exclusion of Incarcerated Voters, Connecticut (1818): The first state to do so, Connecticut prohibited its citizens from voting if they were in convicted of a crime Suffrage for Jewish Voters, Maryland (1828): Maryland allows its Jewish inhabitants to vote and hold office, was previously the only state to restrict them from participating Exclusion of Black Voters, Pennsylvania (1838): Voters must be “white freemen” Abolition of Landowning Requirement for White Men, North Carolina (1856): The last state to do so, North Carolina allows all white men to vote regardless of land ownership.

"We do not have government by the majority.

We have government by the majority who participate."

Thomas Jefferson

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The Right to Vote and the Reconstruction Amendments In the years following the Civil War, a series of amendments were passed that opened the doors for formerly enslaved people to have a say in their government. Known as the Reconstruction Amendments after the era in which they were ratified, the 13th through the 15th amendments abolished slavery, granted citizenship to African Americans, and gave all Americans the right to vote. Subsequently, over half a million African Americans registered to vote, electing nearly 2,000 African American men into office from 1860 -1900. Two Black men, Hiram Revels and Blanche Bruce, became the first to be elected into the Senate. Both politicians represented Mississippi, and were the last African Americans to sit in the Senate for nearly a century. Despite taking such grand strides toward equitable voting standards, once federal troops left the south, voting rights for Black men as well as public office roles were brutally diminished by whitedominated political powers. Evidently, the US government still had a long way to go in granting racial minorities fair and easy access to the polls.

The first and most critical step in leveling voting accessibility was increasing African American literacy. In the late 19th century, after the 15th Amendment was set in stone and all citizens were legally allowed to vote, 80% of the African American population was illiterate. This number was cut in half by 1900, yet southern white jurisdictions utilized tools such as literacy tests to prevent minorities from registering. A typical literacy test was near impossible to complete, let alone accurately; they required the applicant to have a proficient understanding of how to read and write, as well as interpret abstract sections of the Constitution. Even if an applicant achieved a perfect score, the white poll workers could pass or fail him simply based on his race.

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

Martin Luther King, Jr "If American women would increase their voting turnout by ten percent, I think we would see an end to all of the budget cuts in programs benefiting women and children."

Coretta Scott King

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A page from an Alabama Voter Registration Literacy Test, 1964, Library of Congress.

Could you register to vote via a 1960s Alabama literacy test? Try answering all of the following questions correctly (1965, Alabama Literacy Test, taken from Jim Crow Museum): 1. If a person is indicted for a crime, name two rights which he has.

2. The federal census of population is taken every five years. a. True b. False 3. Does enumeration affect the income tax levied on citizens in various states?

4. What words are required by law to be on all coins and paper currency of the United States?

5. The only laws which can be passed to apply to an area in a federal arsenal are those passed by ____, provided consent for the purchase of the land is given by the ____.

Answers at the back of the book Literacy tests were not the only obstacle in the southern states; similar tactics to disenfranchise Black voters included the “Grandfather Clause,” stating that applicants could only vote if their grandfathers had voted, and poll taxes,

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ranging from $20-$40 in today’s currency. Alabama worked especially hard to decrease as well as restrict its African American voters. In 1901, the southern state enacted a new constitution full of voting restrictions. In addition to the Grandfather Clause and poll taxes, lawmakers disenfranchised Black citizens on the account of criminal convictions, “moral failings,” property qualifications, and unemployment, successfully bringing the number of African American voters down from over 100,000 in 1900 to 3,000 in 1908. In Mississippi, one of several states that followed suit, the number of Black voters plummeted below 2%; in Virginia, the number was lowered to 15%.

“This newspaper believes in white supremacy, and it believes that the poll tax is one of the essentials for the preservation of white supremacy.”

— Tuscaloosa News editorial, 1939 Restrictive and Expansive Voting Laws in the Wake of the Civil War:.

15th Amendment (1869): All Americans, regardless of race or previous enslavement, are given the right to vote 1877 Cumulative Poll Tax (Georgia): Required all citizens to pay their poll taxes for every year since the law was enacted, one of the state’s most effective methods at reducing Black voter turnout 1890 Mississippi Constitution, 1901 Alabama Constitution: Introduced voter registration policies on the account of employment, literacy, the “Grandfather Clause,” poll taxes, and criminal convictions

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A Forgotten Hero Philadelphia was the central hub for free African American life, even before the Civil War, producing notable figures like Bishop Richard Allen, James Forten, and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. Among these luminaries, Octavius Catto (1839-1871) stood out by campaigning for freedom in a country that severely limited the quality of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to a select few, excluding many immigrants, indigenous peoples, and the black community. Catto was a civic leader who significantly contributed to African American civil rights. He formed a Civil War recruitment committee to enlist African Americans for the Union army, where he achieved the rank of major.

Catto played a crucial role in desegregating Philadelphia’s streetcar system 1 and advocated for voting rights through the Fifteenth Amendment. By the age of 32, Catto had become one of the few black members of the prestigious Franklin Institute, served as the principal of the Institute for Colored Youth, and founded the Pythians, a renowned baseball team in an all-black league. Tragically, he was murdered on the brutal Election Day of 1871, when Democratic leaders were utilizing intimidation tactics to suppress the city’s Black voters. Catto was shot on his way home at the age of 33, and his killer was ruled not guilty. Although he died young, Catto's achievements reflect his unwavering commitment to equality and justice, leaving an enduring legacy that should not be forgotten.

1 The decision in the Plessy v. Ferguson case confirmed the constitutionality of state laws permitting racial segregation.

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Catto’s life was both inspiring and troubling, as his story paralleled that of Martin Luther King Jr. Both were educated Black leaders with minister fathers who led nonviolent, human-rights movements for desegregation and African American suffrage, combining legislative efforts and civil disobedience. However, Catto's efforts predate Dr. King's by a century. When Catto organized boycotts and protests against Philadelphia's segregated horse-drawn streetcars, his status as a Union army officer supported his cause. The 1867 legislative victory for desegregation arrived during the optimistic period of Radical Republicanism, anticipating African American enfranchisement. Catto’s efforts demonstrate a regression of racial equality between his and King’s lifetimes, as Dr. King had to fight for the security and protection of rights that Catto had already won a hundred years before. Their stories, and the movements they led colors a much more complex and nonlinear nature of the struggle for racial equality and suffrage in the US.

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Women Reclaim the Right to Vote Though the 19th Amendment formally secured and protected women’s suffrage, several states and former territories granted the right to vote regardless of gender up to half a century prior. The Territory of Wyoming, for instance, granted suffrage in 1869, assuring this right into its statehood 30 years later. In 1920, eight states, Pennsylvania included, did not offer women the right to vote; 22 states only allowed voting in certain elections. The road to the 19th Amendment’s ratification was unnecessarily long, and certainly not smooth. Within the century following New Jersey’s restrictive 1807 measure, several women sacrificed their health and limited freedom to win the right to vote.

The Seneca Falls Convention On a warm July morning in 1848, an estimated 300 women and men, predominantly local abolitionists, filled in the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls, New York, to discuss the rights of women in American society. Their meeting was the first convention of its size, known today as one of the notable events that stirred support for Women’s Suffrage.

Among the key organizers were Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) and Lucretia Mott (1793-1880), two activists 15

who met at an Anti-Slavery convention and bonded over their dissatisfaction with the exclusion of women in the public sphere. The two agreed to hold the convention, and in the meantime, Stanton penned “The Declaration of Sentiments,” a play on the Declaration of Independence that expanded upon the pivotal document by adding “he or she,” as well as listing several ways in which women were denied fair participation in American society.

“It is the duty of women of this country to secure to themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise.”

–Elizabeth Cady Stanton, “The Declaration of Sentiments” Stanton read her “Declaration of Sentiments” at the convention, following it up with 12 resolutions regarding women’s rights. Her resolutions ranged from undermining the laws which place women as inferior to men to establishing the importance of female franchise. The attendees voted unanimously in support of all resolutions except suffrage, out of fear that the topic was too controversial. Their worries came to life when, following the publicity of the convention, the abolitionists faced severe backlash.

Reactions to the 15th Amendment The creation of the 15th Amendment in 1869, granting suffrage to African American men, split supporters of the women’s rights movement in half: those in support of the amendment as a critical step towards granting all women the right to vote, and those who opposed the amendment, including key activist Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906), for its absence of gender. Despite their anti-slavery opinions, Anthony and Stanton felt strongly that white women deserved the right to vote before African Americans; this stance cost them support from crucial abolitionists such as Frederick Douglas. Suffragists such as Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911), esteemed Black poet and abolitionist, rallied for the 15th Amendment as a crucial stepping stone towards granting all underrepresented citizens equal rights. Both sides established organizations to fight for their cause2, but ultimately shifted their attention after the Amendment was ratified.

The “Crime of a Citizen Voting in an Election” During the 1872 presidential campaign, Anthony took on a militant approach by pushing women to register to vote in every state of the Union as a method of reclaiming their rights under the 15th amendment. Anthony, alongside 2

the National Woman Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association 16

several other women, took the protest even farther by casting a ballot for president and congressmen; they were consequently arrested weeks later. In an effort to keep her voice heard before going on trial, Anthony toured the country lecturing on the “crime of a citizen voting in an election.” She was found guilty by the judge, and fined $100.

Anthony refused to pay, hoping she could further appeal her case and take it to the Supreme Court, yet the judge foresaw this intention and chose not to sentence her to jail time, ending her crusade. Though her efforts did not manifest to the extent that she intended, Anthony’s protest brought the conversation of women’s rights to the forefront of the media.

“It is a downright mockery to talk to women of their enjoyment of the blessings of liberty while they are denied the use of the only means of securing them provided by this democratic-republican government the ballot.”

Susan B. Anthony

The National American Woman Suffrage Association Through the late 19th century, the women’s suffrage movement was making great strides towards voicing their cause in the political sphere. Both Wyoming and Utah had granted the right to vote regardless of gender by 1890, when the divided activists came together to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), led by Stanton. Several years later, Black suffragists including Harriet Tubman, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and Ida B. Wells-Barnett formed an extension to the Association, the National Association of Colored Women Clubs (NACWC), fighting for the right to vote alongside fair education, pay, and child care for African American women.

Despite working for the same cause, Black suffragists continued to face discrimination from their white counterparts during the turn of the century. In several states, predominantly in the south, African American activists were barred from attending NAWSA conventions.

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The Toughest Suffragist One of the most vocal activists for women’s suffrage, Alice Paul (1885-1977) carried the protests into the ratification of the 19th Amendment by utilizing militant tactics such as picketing and hunger strikes. Born in New Jersey, Paul grew up in a family who embraced equal opportunity in education and the workforce. Her mother, Tacie Parry, was a hardworking suffragist who brought her daughter with her to meetings of activists. Paul received an extensive education, attending Swarthmore College, an institution co-founded by her grandfather, Columbia University, studied social work abroad in England, and earned her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. While residing in the UK, Paul bonded with Lucy Burns, a fellow American suffragist, and the two studied militant protest methods to apply on their homeland.

“We women of America tell you that America is not a democracy.”

Alice Paul The pair joined the NAWSA, and Paul became a leader of the Washington, DC chapter; however, Paul quickly became dissatisfied with the state-by-state approach of the Association. Consequently, the influential activist split from the organization to form the National Woman’s Party, a collective focused on lobbying Congress for change through parades and protests. Paul’s largest parade occurred in March of 1913, the day before President-elect Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration; an estimated eight thousand women marched with banners or rode on floats down Pennsylvania Avenue for half a million spectators who either supported or harassed the participants. Wilson attempted to shut down Paul’s efforts by telling her the time for an amendment had not yet come.

“The President can pardon us again…and again and again, but… picketing will continue, and sooner or later, he will have to do something about it.”

Alice Paul

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All but deterred, Paul continued to hold protests and founded the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage, targeted at initiating change from the top down. In one of her most extreme demonstrations, the suffragist, joined by a thousand “Silent Sentinels,” picketed the White House for 18 months, facing verbal and physical violence. Tension arose as the US entered the first World War, and Paul alongside several fellow protestors were arrested and sentenced to jail for seven months on the charge of obstructing traffic. Determined to keep her voice heard, Paul organized a hunger strike and was force-fed by doctors who threatened to send her to an insane asylum. News of her treatment sparked sympathy and support in the public sphere, and by the following year President Wilson announced his support for what would become the 19th Amendment.

Following the ratification of universal suffrage, Paul spent the remainder of her life fighting for gender equality and garnering support for the Equal Rights Amendment, a movement aimed at securing all women legal protection from discrimination. The Amendment never passed, falling short by three of the required 38 states needed to ratify, yet her life’s work ensured her a place among the toughest women’s right activists of her time.

The Culmination of the Women’s Suffrage Movement The years preceding the 19th Amendment’s ratification were turbulent for all women involved in the fight for universal suffrage. Jeanette Rankin of Montana, a former member of the NAWSA, took major strides as she became the first woman elected into Congress, while women in only 15 states were legally allowed to vote at the time. Despite moving forward, the fight continued to face violent responses, one of the most critical being the November 1917 “Night of Terror,” when guards at a Virginia workhouse brutally beat and harrassed 33 women arrested for picketing.

A year into her term, Rep. Rankin brought the topic of a Constitutional amendment for female suffrage to the House floor for debate. Despite the 19th Amendment gaining enough votes in the House, it fell short in the Senate. The final push in favor of women’s suffrage came with Paul’s efforts from prison and Wilson consequently switching his position. The mid-19th century through the mid-20th century proved to be an era charged by the underrepresented voices of America fighting for volume. Alongside women were African Americans, who faced extreme pushback as they protested for their rightful, equal place in democracy.

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The Civil Rights Era and the Voting Rights Act

An estimated 1,000 African Americans wait in line to vote in the Democratic primary, the first major southern election since the 1965 Federal Voting Rights Act, in Birmingham, Alabama on May 3, 1966.

"There's no such thing as a vote that doesn't matter."

Barack Obama Since 1776, intentional voter suppression tactics have been evident in American history. The founding fathers restricted voting rights primarily to white men aged 21 and older who owned land, a demographic comprising only 10 to 20 percent of the population at the time. It took 80 years for all white men to gain voting rights. Another 80 years passed before Black men were granted suffrage, and an additional 50 years elapsed before women achieved this right.

Despite these milestones, elected officials exploited loopholes. In the late 19th century, Southern states implemented voter suppression tactics under Jim Crow laws, including literacy tests, poll taxes, voter roll purges, and the Grandfather Clause– a law that restricted voting to those whose grandfathers had voted. These discriminatory

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measures disenfranchised Black voters until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) outlawed them. However, safeguarding voting rights has remained a contentious and ongoing struggle ever since. The VRA was considered a major victory in the fight for African American suffrage. Ratified in the wake of desegregation, the VRA protected the 15th Amendment, safeguarding the right to vote for racial minorities. Support for the critical act was built during the Freedom Summer of 1964 and peaked the following year after the brutal Bloody Sunday march.

Freedom Summer of 1964 In an attempt to increase the number of registered Black voters in Mississippi, several hundred volunteers, predominantly white, took to the open road in what became known as Freedom Summer. Volunteers were fighting to break down obstacles in Black voting, such as voter intimidation at the polls, and rid the south of literacy tests. Despite being prepared for arrests, the group faced a tragic loss when three of its members, Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney, were brutally killed by a KKK lynch mob and a local policeman. The efforts of Freedom Summer did not live up to initial expectations, with only 1,200 Black voters successfully registering out of 17,000 applicants. However, the national spotlight on the violence and inhumane treatment of volunteers sparked support for desegregation and the eventual VRA.

Bloody Sunday of 1965 Intended to be a peaceful protest, on the Bloody Sunday of 1965 over 600 marchers were violently attacked by state troopers and confederate flag-bearing spectators after crossing the infamous Edmund Pettus bridge. The marchers, led by activist and Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordination Committee (SNCC) John Lewis alongside Hosea Williams of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), were unable to finish their 50 mile journey from Selma to Birmingham, the state’s capital, to demand suffrage. Footage of the beatings spread across the country, rallying support for the protesters’ cause and calling on President Lyndon B. Johnson to take action. The march was attempted two more times; during the second of which Dr. King was arrested.

“This is Selma Alabama. There are more negroes in jail with me than there are on the voting rolls.”

Martin Luther King Jr., from the Selma, AL jail Dr. King was not far off. Of Selma’s 15,000 eligible Black voters, a mere 300 were registered.

The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) Formed in response to a white-dominated Democratic Party in the south, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) was founded in 1964 as a party parallel to the white-only Democratic Party of the south and open to all regardless of race. Created with the goal of strengthening African American political participation, the MFDP aimed 21

to increase the registered voters of color, all while proving that their lack of involvement was not due to apathy, but rather because of intimidation, violence, and other racist anti-voting measures.

The MFDP swelled in numbers during the Freedom Summer of 1964, and they consequently planned to send several delegates to the Democratic National Convention at the end of the summer. The delegation included esteemed activists such as Fannie Lou Hamer, Victoria Gray, and E.W. Steptoe; yet, when President Lyndon Johnson heard of the plan, he shut it down to ensure a peaceful conference. A compromise of two seats for the MFDP was reached, though the Party’s 68 delegates were unsatisfied. Their efforts were not for naught, as their persistence forced the Democratic Party to open participation up to women and people of color.

“Fighting Shirley” In 1968, Shirley Anita Chisholm (1924-2005) became the first African American woman elected to the U.S. Congress, a major breakthrough for African Americans during a time when voting rights were hotly debated. In high school, she denied pursuing a political career as she felt her race and gender handicapped her from reaching success. Initially an esteemed New York day care teacher, she found her way into the political sphere through her involvement in the League of Women Voters, the NAACP, and the Urban League.

She won her first position in public office in 1964, becoming the second African American in New York’s state legislature. The courtordered redistricting, spurred by Andrew W. Cooper’s lawsuit against racial gerrymandering, opened the door for Chisholm to run for a seat in Congress by carving out a predominantly democratic district in Chisholm’s neighborhood. Winning this race in 1968, Chisholm focused on expanding suffrage and fought against the disenfranchisement of African Americans, even after the Voting Rights Act passed.

“At present, our country needs women’s idealism and determination, perhaps more in politics than anywhere else.”

Shirley Anita Chisholm

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She introduced over 50 bills fighting for racial and gender equality, ending the Vietnam War, and addressing the lives of the poor. An ever-present activist, Chisholm helped establish the National Women’s Political Caucus in 1971, an organization dedicated to increasing female representation in the political process. She became the first African American woman seeking presidential nomination in 1972 and faced several discriminatory obstacles; not only was her campaign underfunded, but she was initially blocked from participating in live debate. She continued to break the norm, becoming the first African American woman to serve on the House Rules Committee. Known as “Fighting Shirley,” Chisholm built an indisputable legacy that stood for women and minorities in political arenas of the 1970s and beyond.

“Their cause must be our cause too… it is all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice. And we shall overcome.”

President Lyndon B. Johnson, “Special Message” The third march attempt was successful thanks to protection by the National Guard as well as the president, who, by the end of the summer, signed into action the VRA. Under this act, jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination were required to receive higher approval before changing their voting laws. This process was called “preclearance,” and was notable alongside still-prominent Section 2, prohibiting laws that discriminate against voters due to their race or the language they speak. Preclearance was completely removed in 20133, a first step backwards of many. In the years since, state governments have passed an alarming number of voting restrictions, widening the gap between voters of color and white voters.

3 Shelby County (AL) v. Holder 2013

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“Throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.”

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, 2013 Shelby County v. Holder Dissent

Voting Restrictions Today Voter ID Laws As the 2024 election rapidly approaches, voters in nearly half the states are facing obstacles that were not in place in 2020. Restrictive legislation has notably targeted the registration process as well as accessibility to the polls, doing so by limiting mail voting opportunities, shortening early voting windows, closing polling locations, purging voter rolls, and passing strict voter ID requirements. The last of which was particularly attacked in states such as Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and North Carolina following the removal of preclearance. In Texas and North Carolina, these laws were taken to federal courts and ruled discriminatory towards voters of color Although fewer states have enacted voter ID restrictions since this wave of successful pushback, jurisdictions continue to place obstacles in the way of the polls.

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Mail and Absentee Voting Mail and absentee voting suffered a major blow after the 2020 election, amidst lies about voter fraud as well as a stark increase in the use of mail-in ballots. Consequently, restrictive policy began to focus on shortening the amount of time for voters to request an absentee ballot4 as well as limiting the voting assistance those with accessibility needs can receive. A recent Alabama bill5 characterizes ballot harvesting– the process of a third party collecting absentee ballots and delivering them to polling locations– as a Class B felony, another crime of this class being first-degree manslaughter. Though ballot harvesting has been used to commit fraud in the past, it most commonly occurs for the sake of increasing voter turnout. As a result, historically marginalized voters such as African Americans, the elderly. low-literacy voters, and incarcerated voters are at risk of being silenced this election. Further, those volunteers and family members who assist in providing and transporting absentee ballots may be punished for their help if they are compensated in any miniscule way. Like several other new restrictions, this barrier is masked by politicians with the claim that it helps secure the election process.

Gerrymandering Another method of weeding out underprivileged voters and swaying election results is the process of gerrymandering. Once every decade states redraw their county maps to create equally populated districts. The process must adhere to the VRA, and paint an accurate picture of the citizens’ political affiliations in each respective district. However, when politicians get involved in the process, maps may be manipulated to skew the state in favor of a particular political party. The two most common gerrymandering techniques are “cracking–” dividing up groups of voters in the same party into different districts to weaken their collective voice– and “packing–” or grouping similar voters into several small districts to solidify their influence.

Pennsylvania is a notable battleground on which gerrymandering has been weaponized, most notably in a 2010 country-wide campaign by the 4 Tennessee Bill (SB 1967) was passed February 2024, limiting the number of days prior to an election in which voters can request an

absentee ballot from seven to 10 5 Alabama’s recently enacted Senate Bill 1 (SB 1), contains severe restrictions and penalties on nonpartisan civic engagement efforts.

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Republican Party to win the majority in the House of Representatives, known as “REDMAP.” What resulted was a redistricted Pennsylvania, alongside several other swing states, that were also gerrymandered. Before the most recent 2021 redistricting could occur, this Pennsylvania map was brought to state court and ruled unconstitutional. What took its place was a nonpartisan district map created by the state court, crafted to increase the value of votes.

Felony Disenfranchisement Though states apply a variety of measures to disenfranchise racial minorities, such as passing restrictive laws, one of the most effective and common methods to strip the right to vote is through the prison system. Today, an estimated 6.1 million Americans are unable to vote due to criminal convictions; of those, over 4 million are living outside of jail, working, or raising a family. The citizens currently sitting with criminal charges are disproportionately Black or Latinx.

In fact, one in five African Americans and one in six Latinx men are likely to be sent to jail within their lifetime. Felony disenfranchisement did not become a significant barrier for voters until the 15th Amendment granted suffrage to racial minorities. Around the late 19th century, several southern states passed a series of criminal laws aimed to incarcerate citizens of color in addition to restrictive laws that stripped the right to vote from convicted felons.

Though several states6 allow voting from jail for citizens who are awaiting trial or, in 44 states, for those serving time for a minor misdemeanor offense, the process of getting a ballot securely into the hands of prisoners is full of obstacles.

In particular, incarcerated voters often suffer from a lack of information, such as when their local deadlines are, whether or not they are eligible to vote, and if they are receiving the correct application for mail-voting. This barrier spans both sides of the process, as election officials largely do not understand the voting eligibility rules and registration process for those with criminal convictions in their state. A series of interviews from the American Civil Liberties Union between 2005-2008 showed that up to 50% of county clerks in states from Ohio to New York to Arizona were not accurately aware of the voting rights for citizens with criminal convictions. In a country that values democracy, felony disenfranchisement herds a harmful number of people into a gray area where they may be falsely silenced.

In Pennsylvania, the following citizens are allowed to vote: those who are awaiting trial on a felony or misdemeanor, those were were convicted of a misdemeanor in the past, those who will be released from a correctional facility or halfway house by the date of the next election, those who are on probation or parole, and those who are under house arrest.

6 Maine and Vermont allow all incarcerated citizens to vote. Kentucky and Virginia disenfranchise anyone with a felony conviction

unless they are granted permission by the governor. ()

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Looking Forward: Freedom to Vote and the 2024 Election Despite limitations on American suffrage enacted over the past decade, the future remains promising. After the turbulent 2020 election, Democrats in the Senate introduced a bill, titled the “Freedom to Vote Act,” aimed at creating national, equitable standards for how states should run elections. The Freedom to Vote Act would effectively respond to recent restrictions by ensuring all states share the same general voting processes. These processes include, but are not limited to: allowing no-excuse mail voting for everyone, requiring an early voting period of at least 2 weeks prior to Election Day, banning partisan gerrymandering, requiring states to provide safe ballot dropboxes, requiring states to offer online voter registration, and modernizing Automatic Voter Registration– a process that automatically registers eligible voters when they give their information to government agencies such as the DMV. The Freedom to Vote Act would also establish Election Day as a federal holiday, one of several methods to increase voter turnout. The act would address nearly 5 million previously incarcerated citizens as well, granting convicted felons suffrage after they have served their sentence. Those arguing against the bill, largely Republicans, claim that the power to control elections should remain at the state level rather than federal; they argue that state legislation is crafted to secure elections. Although the Freedom to Vote Act is still under consideration, it has the potential to open the doors for both registered and eligible voters in the future.

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Answers to Literacy Test: 1. Any two rights listed under the 5th, 6th, and 8th amendments 2. False 3. No 4. “In God We Trust” 5. Congress-State, legislature Works Cited ACLU of Alabama. “Alabama State Conference of the NAACP et al. v. Marshall et al.” ACLU of Alabama, 4 April 2024, https://www.aclualabama.org/en/cases/alabama-state-conference-of-the-naacp-et-al-v-marshall-et-al. Accessed 15 August 2024.

Alabama Secretary of State. “Secretary of State Wes Allen Applauds the Final Passage of Senate Bill 1 | Alabama Secretary of State.” Alabama Secretary of State, 19 March 2024, https://www.sos.alabama.gov/newsroom/secretary-state-wes-allenapplauds-final-passage-senate-bill-1. Accessed 15 August 2024.

Amurao, Carla. “Criminal Justice Reform.” LULAC, https://lulac.org/advocacy/issues/criminal_justice_reform/. Accessed 15 August 2024.

Annenberg Public Policy Center. “Property Qualification For Voting Eliminated – Annenberg Classroom.” Annenberg Classroom, The Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, https://www.annenbergclassroom.org/timeline_event/property-qualification-voting-eliminated/. Accessed 15 August 2024.

Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice. “Civil Rights Division | Section 2 Of The Voting Rights Act.” Department of Justice, 5 April 2023, https://www.justice.gov/crt/section-2-voting-rights-act. Accessed 15 August 2024.

Crayton, Kareem. “The Voting Rights Act Explained.” Brennan Center for Justice, 17 July 2023, https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/voting-rights-act-explained. Accessed 15 August 2024.

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General Assembly. “"An act for prevention of undue election of Burgeses” (1699).” Encyclopedia Virginia, Virginia Humanities, 7 December 2020, https://encyclopediavirginia.org/primary-documents/an-act-for-prevention-of-undue-election-ofburgeses-1699/. Accessed 15 August 2024.

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“Maryland's “Jew Bill” – Jewish Museum of Maryland.” Jewish Museum of Maryland, Jewish Museum of Maryland at the Herbert Bearman Campus, 15 May 2020, https://jewishmuseummd.org/marylands-jew-bill/. Accessed 15 August 2024.

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League of Women Voters. “Civil Rights, Voting Rights, Disability Rights Groups Sue Alabama Over SB1’s Extreme Anti-Voter Restrictions and Penalties.” League of Women Voters, 4 April 2024, https://www.lwv.org/newsroom/press-releases/civil-rightsvoting-rights-disability-rights-groups-sue-alabama-over-sb1s. Accessed 15 August 2024.

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Peljovich, Matthew. “Can People Vote in Jail? Yes, But It's Very Challenging.” Campaign Legal Center, 1 August 2022, https://campaignlegal.org/update/can-people-vote-jail-yes-its-very-challenging. Accessed 15 August 2024.

Pruitt, Sarah. “19th Amendment: A Timeline of the Fight for All Women’s Right to Vote.” 19th Amendment: A Timeline of the Fight for All Women's Right to Vote | HISTORY, 13 August 2020, https://www.history.com/news/19th-amendment-women-votetimeline. Accessed 15 August 2024.

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Waskie, Andy. “Octavius Catto Biography.” General Meade Society, The General Meade Society of Philadelphia Inc., 2015, https://generalmeadesociety.org/octavius-catto-biography/. Accessed 15 August 2024.

Wolfe, Ursula, and Lauren Cooper. “Oct. 10, 1871: Octavius Catto Killed on Election Day in Philadelphia.” Zinn Education Project, Zinn Education Project, https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/octavius-catto-killed-on-election-day-in-philadelphia/.

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Wood, Erika, and Rachel Bloom. “De Facto Disenfranchisement.” American Civil Liberties Union, American Civil Liberties Union and Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, 2008, https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/defactodisenfranchisement_report.pdf. Accessed 15 August 2024.

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Written by Sarah Tachau and Hannah Kaiser Mai Original Art by Brooke Fisher Cover by Alexa-Skye Simon Published by Moonstone Arts Center moonstoneartscenter.com This is free and meant to be copied and shared

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