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Stealing the Vote from the People Voter Suppression Against People of Color and the LGBTQ Community
by Julianna Peres qnotes Staff Writer
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o many voices go unheard when voter suppression occurs. It takes a mix of plotting and conniving blended with various forms of bigotry and intolerance, such as institutionalized racism, homophobia, transphobia, and discrimination against the physically challenged. The ultimate goal is to keep members of the non-majority suppressed, so that their votes are never cast, or the votes are disqualified in local and national elections. Senate Bill 326 (SB 326), the Election Day Integrity Act, is an example of using legal maneuvering to achieve voter suppression. The bill threatens to alter the methods by which voting may be carried out during an election. If enacted, SB 326 will decrease Far too many people are unable to vote due to lack of resources or time. (Photo Credit: steheap via Adobe Stock) the amount of time that a voter may have to request and return an absentee ballot. most significant reasons that LGBTQ changes could limit the number of people Senate Bill 724 (SB 724), the Expand people vote and the prevalent reasons who are able to vote in any one space durAccess to Voter ID & Voting Act, was they don’t vote. The study found that over ing a limited span of time. recently introduced under the guise of half of LGBTQ voters believed that former Organizations like Democracy North making the State Board website more acPresident Donald Trump and various Carolina are calling voters to action cessible to vision impaired voters. corporations want to keep them from with petitions and open group discusWhile it may seem well-intentioned on turning in their ballots. sions. Equality NC is another group that the surface, there’s a darker, more sinister HRC released another report titled is working to protect voter rights. Their side to SB 724 that isn’t readily appar“Banned from the Ballot Box: the History campaign, called Safe Voter NC, is dedient, especially for the group of voters it is of Disenfranchisement Law on LGBT cated to keeping all people up to date on purported to help. Less touted is the fact it Women of Color,” The research revealed their rights. This campaign is facilitated by would limit funding for certain communithe impact the prison industrial system Disability Rights North Carolina and the ties to be able to vote either absentee or and homophobia/transphobia can have North Carolina Black Alliance in an effort in person. With additional tweaking, the on each other and on the ability to vote. to create empowered representation for bill could ultimately make it so that almost The Guidance on Eligibility page of the underrepresented. North Carolina’s State Board of Elections’ everyone would be ineligible to vote via According to research published on the website informs formerly incarcerated absentee ballot. Human Rights Campaign (HRC) website people about their rights to voting. These in 2020, COVID-19 has created unpreceThe third and most recently reviewed regulations state that anyone who is servdented obstacles for LGBTQ people. These voter suppression bill in North Carolina is ing a felony sentence, is on probation, obstacles include a lack of transportation Senate Bill 725 (SB 725), the Prohibit Private parole or post-release supervision cannot to polling locations, difficulty accessing Money in Elections Administration Act. vote in North Carolina. Not only does this mail-in ballots and issues with employers SB 725 would affect not only voters, mean that most previously incarcerated allowing for time to vote. but employment in relation to elections as people will be unable to vote but it also Fair Fight and HIT Strategies conwell. Without being able to hire tempomeans that once they are eligible, without ducted their study during the 2020 rary poll workers, voting locations will be someone to inform them, they may never Presidential election to determine the understaffed and overwhelmed. These
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qnotes June 25-July 8 2021
know they can participate in elections again, or they may simply lose interest in doing so. Misinformation is one of the greatest tools of voter suppression. The HRC study also found that Black or LatinX individuals are often unable to find polling locations due to a lack of resources or time. Transgender individuals have difficultly voting due to voter ID laws which make it so they must use their government-issued identification cards and, in the process, out themselves to poll workers, which could potentially lead to verbal harassment or even physical harm. In May of this year the NAACP filed suit against Tim Moore, the Republican Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives and Philip Berger, a North Carolina Republican State Senator for their implementation of a discriminatory constitutional amendment, Senate Bill 824. The actions taken and the resulting changes that were added to North Carolina voting policy made it so that any undocumented resident or any individual without an active license or state ID could not vote. Several members of the public, as well as the state government, agreed the bill was discriminatory at its core and would only serve to further block access to voting for Black and brown people. Data from the U.S. Elections Project has found that in North Carolina white voters had their mail-in ballots rejected at a rate of .5 percent, while black voters’ ballots were rejected at a rate of 1.8 percent and Native American voters’ ballots were rejected at a rate of four percent. These statistics illustrate the divide between Caucasian and voters of color. Paul Brachman, the plaintiffs’ attorney, had this to say: “Taken together, the facts are compelling evidence that [the bill] was intended to entrench the Republican majority by targeting reliably Democratic AfricanAmerican voters.” : :
