Simple Civics | What is Voter Suppression?

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The United States has a reputation for free and fair elections and a history of excluding people from voting.

While our elections are more accessible and secure than ever, we have to ask, "What is voter suppression and does it still exist?"

(gentle music) Generally, every US citizen over the age of 18 of all races, genders, and abilities are now allowed to vote.

Yet, there are some ways voters are still being prevented from doing so.

Voter suppression is any action that makes it harder for qualified individuals to vote.

After the 2020 presidential election, several states have added laws that actively suppress voting.

For example, Georgia's Election Integrity Act of 2021 gives voters less time to apply for and submit mail-in ballots, prohibits mobile voting buses, and bans people from passing out water or snacks to voters waiting in long lines.

In Texas, election officials now face criminal charges if they encourage qualified voters to use mail-in ballots.

The bill also expands voting hours in largely Republican areas and bans methods typically used by people of color to vote, including drive-through voting and early and overnight voting hours.

In Montana, a new law ended election day registration and in debate on the state House floor, a representative said the young people who use same day registration were "not on our side of the aisle."

These partisan laws disproportionately affect minority voters, but are created in the name of voter security and fraud prevention, yet voter fraud is incredibly rare.

A Loyola University study found that between 2000 and 2014 there were only 31 acts of voter impersonation out of 1 billion ballots cast.

And out of Oregon's 100 million mail-in ballots, there were only a dozen cases of proven fraud.

And how about voting twice?

Typically, when a voter submits two ballots, it's not an act of fraud, but because they submitted an absentee ballot and then decided to go to the polls on election day.

Two ballots by the same person are not counted, since absentee voters are taken off the poll books for in-person voting.

This makes double voting incredibly rare.

So when you read of new voting laws, ask the questions, "Why was this law created and who is prevented from voting?

Is it an act of election security or an act of voter suppression?"

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