On November 3, 2020, at 2:30 a.m. EST--about seven hours after the first polling places closed--a presidential candidate took to a podium to make these remarks: “I want to thank the American people for their [support]. Millions of people voted for us tonight. And [to] a very sad group of people [trying] to disenfranchise that group of people… we won’t stand for it” (1). In a perfect world, this presidential candidate would be making factual arguments based on evidence as most Americans expect to see from such a high-ranking official. However, this presidential candidate had spent years making arguments based on dubious evidence and often completely false statements about voter fraud, his favorite form of disenfranchisement to mention. Of course, the only real evidence of such voter fraud comes from a time in American history when it was actually a problem, an era that has long since passed due to improved communication, technology, and legislation.
Nevertheless, it was 2020, and America was far from perfect. Donald Trump was at the podium freely giving his thoughts on the proceedings of the constitutional practice known as an election, flexing his first amendment right from America’s most highest-profile stage, the White House, a mere sixty-six days prior to losing his favorite source of proclamation, Twitter.com, due to an armed insurrection on January 6, 2021, at Capitol Hill being egged on by his voter fraud claims, a fact that even his former attorney general, Bill Barr, agreed to (2). During his speech, Trump decided to declare his victory in the entire election...even though some states, including important swing states like Pennsylvania and Georgia--the same states that were showing up on his side at that moment according to the graphic--, were not near finished counting votes yet. Trump had a history of pushing the false narrative of voter fraud in elections--even in 2016 when he won!--often stating that elections were rigged against him (3).
Due to a series of rather historic events like the President of the United States coming down with COVID-19 and downplaying it though it left him hospitalized, only two presidential debates taking place (the first exhilarating yet destructive, the other completely opposite), and racial unrest playing a larger role in American culture than many on both sides of the fight had ever lived through before, the months leading up to the 2020 presidential election were nothing short of tumultuous (4, 5, 6, 7).
The election itself has become infamous as due to the political climate, many cities were forced to board up businesses and stores for protection, and due to the pandemic, the mail-in voting method was more widely used than ever before. Despite the need, this voting method was portrayed as sinister because the majority of a political party was doing everything it could to discourage voters from using the newly popularized mail-in voting by claiming it would lead to mass voter fraud--an accusation, as stated previously, with little to no evidence to support its occurrence. But while this very very safe voting method was being used more than ever before, a more well-known voting method, in-person voting, was seeing some hardships. On and not long before election days, those who chose not to vote by mail living in predominantly minority neighborhoods all over the country saw hours-long lines to get to the voting booths (11). Many hopeful Americans in those areas that were looking to practice their democratic right were either finding it nearly impossible or utterly impossible to do so due to regulations and policies aimed at reducing voter turnout (8, 9, 10).
What is going on?
Why is it happening?
How does voter fraud have little to no evidence when it is so frequently brought up by politicians?
Are there any real issues with America’s voting system?
Voter Fraud - A Brief Explanation
Voter fraud, also known as electoral fraud, by definition, is the “illegal interference with the process of an election” (12) Many theories and speculations arise when discussing voter fraud methods, such as:
Ballot stuffing where voters illegally submit more than one ballot,
Voter registration fraud where voters register to vote under a false name, and
Vote-buying where electoral candidates attempt to buy votes (12).
In 1849, an actual occurrence of voter fraud may have even led to the death of a popular American writer. With works like “The Raven”, “The Masque of Red Death”, and “The Tell-Tale Heart”, Edgar Allen Poe is still celebrated today as one of the most esteemed writers in American history. Yet, many still question how he died. Some believe that a hereditary alcohol problem due to which Poe could barely handle his drinks was the reason; others believe he died of heavy metal poisoning as tests show high levels of mercury in his blood system months before his death. Others even think that he died of rabies! But one of the most widely accepted theories is that Edgar Allen Poe died of “cooping” (13). The process of cooping was rather simple: gangs would find passers-by on the streets, supply them with heavy amounts of opiates and alcohol, and take them to multiple voting booths and change their attire at each one. Poe has always been known as a darker poet, which is why it must have been rather strange for people to find him outside of Ryan’s Fourth Ward Polls, a tavern in Baltimore, Maryland, that served as both a bar and a polling place in many national and state-wide elections, dressed as a rural farmer while being drunk and delirious (14, 16). Back in the early stages of America, voter fraud was commonly a violent practice, especially when political parties found themselves working with human-trafficking gangs and pirates. However, voter fraud has become less and less likely to happen, if it happens at all, as many rules and regulations have been put into place, replacing voter fraud with voter disenfranchisement (15).
Voter Fraud Evidence
However, while such legislation has been drafted and passed, many lawmakers, mostly on the right side of the aisle in 2020, have worked their hardest to push false narratives of various types of voter fraud. This has led many political scientists, experts, and others to launch investigations into the issue to prove just how much evidence of voter fraud there is. In 2014, Justin Levitt, a constitutional law scholar and professor at Loyola Law School, published a study that sought to find instances of voter fraud in elections ranging from 2000 to 2014.
The elections studied were national, state-wide, and local, and out of the more than 1 billion ballots cast in the span of fourteen years, Levitt found a total of 31 voter fraud instances, meaning that roughly 0.000000031% of the votes were fraudulent (17). Even more striking is that the word fraudulent in Levitt’s study often refers to small typos and voters accidentally signing poll books on the wrong lines (the wrong lines being unfortunately very close to the spaces for names of deceased individuals). In another case uncovered by the study, a 23-year-old from Wisconsin named Cynthia Alicea became “inclined not to vote ever again” when poll workers never discarded a form filled out by her with an error on it and kept it even after she filled out another correctly.
So, essentially, the most common forms of voter fraud are instances that are not malicious and are found before the ballot is cast.
Regardless, early into his presidential term, Donald Trump tweeted that he would be “asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and…even, those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time)”, which led him to create the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity (18).
Vice President Mike Pence, a man whose life would soon be threatened by loyal Trump supporters during the January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection after being encouraged by Trump’s constant pushing of lies about voter fraud was appointed as president of the commission. In the executive order creating the commission, it was stated that the commission was created in order to promote fair and honest elections. In the end, the Trump Administration failed at their task but did a great job telling the truth by proving that voter fraud is no real issue in American elections as an analysis of Commission documents were “glaringly empty” and showed no evidence of widespread voter fraud (19, 20).
With the Trump Administration failing to prove any claims of fraud and at the same time succeeding at telling the truth, one could wonder why Donald Trump decided to continue pushing the voter fraud narrative…Wouldn’t enough be enough after studies by the Presidential Advisory Commission on Voter Integrity, Justin Levitt, and even Brookings Edu one of America’s top scholarly source providers due to its history of publishing peer-reviewed studies and longtime membership with the Association of American Universities, all showed that mail-in ballots incurred minuscule instances of voter fraud compared to millions of legally casted ballots? Or is there something bigger happening behind the scenes, something bigger often executed by Donald Trump’s own party and previous political groups that hold similar ideals? Did they also consider and leverage the issue of modern-day voter suppression? And what even is modern-day voter suppression (21, 22)?
Before the factual evidence of modern-day voter suppression can be thoroughly expounded upon, one must take a look at earlier instances in American history.
The Insanity of the 1876 Presidential Election
A Look At Voter Suppression of the Past
In the year 1876, America was not only beginning to recover from the Civil War, but it was also celebrating its 100-year anniversary through the Centennial International Exhibition & the first World’s Fair to be held in the US. 1876 was also an election year, and despite the many calls for patriotism and celebration in America, the financial crisis was a divisive issue that needed solving. The issue was met with solutions from two often seen as mediocre politicians: Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes, and Democrat candidate Samuel J. Tilden. But while the country was facing a difficult choice, it was also facing issues of voter suppression that markedly tie into the modern-day issues of voter suppression (23).
Black Americans had just recently won the right to vote, and many other Americans opposed that fact. “[The] election was flawed from top to bottom,” Eric Forner, a Columbia University history professor stated in an interview with CBS. “You had two political parties competing throughout the nation, with people very loyal to them”(24). The loyalty brought about newspaper headlines reading “March to Washington to Install Tilden as President” as neither side was willing to concede a very close race. According to reports, election day in Edgefield, South Carolina, a predominantly Black community, even saw 300 “riflemen wearing red shirts, riding to and fro [on horseback], and cursing and threatening the negroes while they “packed their horses so closely together” in a demonstration of both extreme loyalty to their party and racism, blocking Black Americans from exercising their rights (25).
Today, voter suppression tactics aren’t often as violent or intimidating, but they all succeed at accomplishing one goal: suppressing votes from minority communities. In 2019, Barbara Arnwine, the president and founder of the Transformative Justice Coalition published an online PDF that listed sixty-one different forms of voter suppression (26). Each of the 61 issues are very real and very threatening to America’s democratic processes, but it would be nearly impossible to go over each in this essay. However, two forms of voter suppression disproportionately affect Black and other minority Americans. More than likely, these voter suppression tactics have taken place near your home and under your nose--and they are all corroborated by extensive research and indisputable evidence.
A common form of voter suppression is Voter ID laws. Voter ID laws, by definition, are “any U.S. state law(s) by which would-be voters are required or requested to present proof of their identities before casting a ballot” (27). Voter ID laws are not just about requiring voters to bring a driver’s license or birth certificate to the voting booth; voter ID laws also mean that actions can be taken against voters who do not have an official form of ID in their possession. Voter ID laws have been around since the early 1950s ever since South Carolina adopted America’s first Voter ID law (27). As of 2019, South Carolina now requires that all voters present one of the following IDs when registering to vote and/or voting:
South Carolina driver’s license
South Carolina DMV ID card
South Carolina concealed weapons permit
South Carolina voter registration card with photo
U.S. military ID and other related IDS
U.S. passport and passport ID card (28).
If citizens of South Carolina are unable to provide such forms of ID, a provisional ballot may be cast after signing an affidavit under the circumstance that the hopeful voter has “a reasonable impediment to obtaining a Photo ID”, like if the voter had moved to a different part of the state or county or if a voter had moved to a different state after the voter registration deadline. South Carolina is in the same group as states like North Carolina, Alabama, South Dakota, and Louisiana as they are considered “strict” in terms of voter identification laws--meaning that even if a provisional ballot has been cast, the voter may actually be required to come back to the polling location with a presentable form of ID or their vote will be thrown out--a regulation that must be met sometimes only days after voting. In “non-strict” states like Colorado, Vermont, and Florida, election officials will confirm, once voting is over if the ballot can be cast through verification methods like signature checking.
In New Hampshire, those who registered to vote without an ID will actually be sent a letter in the mail that the voter must return, verifying their address is correct. Voter ID laws are very different all over America, as in states like Alabama, the provisional voter can be confirmed if two people in the polling location know who they are. In addition, some states have policies in which a photo ID may not be required if the individual’s religion opposes being photographed (29).
Many wonder, “So, states want to make sure that people are voting correctly. How can showing you have an ID be a form of voter suppression?” That’s a fair point when looking at the surface level of the issue. However, one must also look into the support and opposition for voter ID laws. In 2011, Hans von Spakovsky, a member of The Heritage Foundation and a Republican attorney who has been accused of holding secretive anti-voter fraud meetings without Democrats present, stated, “Those states [that have implemented voter ID laws] understand that the United States has an unfortunate history of voter fraud and that requiring individuals to authenticate their identity at the polls is a fundamental and necessary component of ensuring the integrity of the election process…it is equally important that…eligible [votes] are not stolen by a fraudulent vote cast by an ineligible or imaginary voter,” (30).
There is a chance that von Spakovsky was talking about the death of Edgar Allen Poe or similar cases in the 1800s since his claims would not apply to modern-day voter fraud due to the multitude of studies proving voter fraud is nothing for modern Americans to be worried about. However, while von Spakovsky explained the need for identification to be verified in order to stop fraud, he left out one main factor--many states proposing “strict” voter ID laws have a long history of systemic racism thriving in their cultures (30).
Redlining was a common process in the early 1900s that has led many minority Americans to live a life of little advancement and opportunity. Essentially, before it was outlawed, redlining saw city planners and organizers take a city map and outline communities and areas of the city that were predominately Black and minority communities in red, marking them as dangerous or hazardous. Redlining kept those in the communities from receiving public finances, services, and even healthcare (31).
Because of this, many contemporary Black Americans are in positions in which they only have access to lower-income jobs, and they have to decide how to distribute smaller incomes between a range of necessities and education. Some of the most common forms of photo IDs are driver’s licenses and school ID cards, and when minorities are often seen not being able to afford cars or to go to college, where are they going to get the most common forms of ID? And in states that require driver’s licenses like Texas, how can they vote? And when it costs an average of $33 to get such IDs, a cost that seems like little to many but is sizeable to low-income Americans, and the processes to get the necessary IDs to partake in these processes cost large sums of time and money as well, minority voters are left in the dust (32).
Now, this isn’t saying that people shouldn’t be verified to be themselves when voting, but there are many alternatives to showing picture IDs. Those alternatives and voting, in general, are getting harder and harder for minority Americans to fulfill as many Republicans are pushing harder to make voting possible only by showing a photo ID. Why do we really need such strict voter ID laws when provisional ballots can be sent by mail to people’s homes where they can verify they live there? The process of signature verification could even be improved by requiring simple homeownership documents or even tax forms with the home address on them. Simply put, Black and minority Americans are far more likely to vote for liberal and overall left-leaning candidates over conservative candidates, making voter ID laws the perfect strategy to limit their voter turnout and for Republicans to win elections.
Felony Disenfranchisement
Did you know that in all the countries across the globe, the United States is the only country that allows the voter suppression method known as felony disenfranchisement to take place? By definition, felony disenfranchisement is “the practice of barring individuals who have been convicted of felony crimes from voting in political elections” (33). In studies as recent as 2010, 2.5% of the U.S. voting-age population has had their right to vote taken away due to a felony they had already served all or most of their prison time for (33). 2.5% of the 2010 population is 7,725,000 Americans--enough individuals to equal the populations of Washington in 2019 and more than the populations of Wyoming, Vermont, Washington D.C., Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Delaware, Rhode Island, and Montana combined (34). When one looks into the statistics of arrest rates in America, one discovers how much more often Black Americans are convicted than white Americans, making felony disenfranchisement appear even more prejudicial.
While it was shown by a Pew Research Center study that the imprisonment rate of Black Americans had fallen between 2006 and 2018, the Black imprisonment rate was still higher than the white imprisonment rate by 460% (35). Simply put, Black Americans are arrested at a far higher rate than white Americans. In 2019, it was calculated that only 12.2% of the population of America is Black, yet when calculated on the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention website by per 100,000 and all ages, juvenile and adult, Black Americans were more likely to be arrested than white people in every category besides DUIs. When it came to smaller charges like curfew and loitering, Black Americans were more likely to be arrested by 147%, and when it came to drug abuse violations, Black Americans were more likely to be arrested by 100% in 2019. While of course, every race will wind up committing crimes, the difference in arrest rates compared to population is mind-boggling (36).
Between 2016 and 2018, Black and white juveniles in Philadelphia found quite the racial disparity in terms of loitering and curfew violations. 80% of Black youth accounted for loitering arrests, a statistic that can be undoubtedly attributed to America’s ongoing racial discrimination issues via some members of the police force (37). When it comes to drug use, a study by the National Registry of Exonerations states that according to statistics, “African Americans and whites use illegal drugs at about the same rate.” However, “African Americans are about five times as likely to go to prison for drug possession as whites… [and], innocent black people are about 12 times more likely to be convicted of drugs than innocent white people.” With the statistics showing an average percentage difference of 123% on both loitering charges, loitering usually being only a misdemeanor, and drug abuse violations, charges that often lead to felonies, one could infer that all across the board, Black Americans are the most likely population to be charged while innocent, and that inference is correct. The study also states that while only 15% of murders by Black Americans involve white Americans, “31% of innocent African-American murder exonerees were convicted of killing white people” and that in the case of sexual assault, Black prisoners were 3.5 times more likely to be innocent than white Americans who actually committed a sexual assault crime (38).
So… with the voter suppression method of felony disenfranchisement, Black Americans are more likely to be arrested for charges on all levels than white Americans, and Black Americans are more likely to be innocent of those charges. As a result, it is becoming increasingly clear why so many people consider ex-felons not having the right to vote in certain states disenfranchisement--especially on the charge of drug abuse, drug abuse being a common crime in low-income communities due to the need for coping mechanisms to better handle the hardships (39). However, one can also argue the fact that all ex-felons should be granted the right to vote or the chance to participate in some democratic processes, particularly ex-felons like those who have proven to be child molesters, deadly drunk drivers, murderers, and so on. This is why when one talks about felony disenfranchisement, one can also open a discussion about the badly constructed prison system, a prison system that, according to Pennsylvania State University, not only host 25% of the world’s prisoners, treats prisoners inhumanely, treats minority prisoners far worse than others, and often sees repeat offenders due to no real rehabilitation programs present, and find themselves presumably miles away from the original issue, yet in reality, directly adjacent (40).
The Fight Against Voter Suppression
With 61 forms of voter suppression present in America as classified by Barbara Arnwine, president and founder of the Transformative Justice Coalition, voter ID laws and felony disenfranchisement being only two of the most common voter suppression methods aimed at Black and minority Americans, it is unfortunate that such voter suppression has become a partisan issue rather than a bipartisan human rights issue. This is especially unfortunate considering that 245 years have passed since the Declaration of Independence opened with the line “...all men are created equal…”, 158 years have passed since the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, and 56 years have passed since Black Americans received the right to vote. Like many issues covered during Black History Month 2021 at The Vinny Demme Portfolio, the issue of voter suppression may seem like an issue that is too complex and widespread to be solved any time soon.
In fact, voter suppression has become such a widespread issue that Glamour published an article in September of 2019 titled “7 Things You Can Do to Fight Voter Suppression”, which suggested that individuals should “know your local elections and deadlines”, “make sure everyone in your household has a ride and a plan”, vote as early as possible, and even just “stay in line” (41). Essentially, the article suggests that you do everything in your power to make sure that those trying to disenfranchise and suppress you cannot do so. And while this essay focuses on voter suppression tactics aimed at low-income minority populations, those who do not fit that description living near areas with low incomes and high minority populations can feel the effects as well. For example, imagine that you are not rich, but you are not exactly poor either. You live in or near a largely minority-populated community, so your preferred polling location, whether it be a library or post office or something else, could very possibly have been closed down in a veiled minority voter suppression attempt. As reported in 2012 by The Leadership Conference Education Fund, a civil rights group, 750 such locations had been closed statewide in Texas, a majority of the polling places being in minority communities.
In fact, with this interactive map provided by The Guardian, you can see just how many polling places have shut down in Texas between 2012 and 2018. “The fact of the matter is that Texas is not a red state,” Antonio Arellano, a member of Jolt, a progressive Latino political organization said in an interview with The Guardian, “Texas is a nonvoting state” (42). While Glamour has the right ideas, other organizations and groups have been designed to actively fight the issue of voter suppression.
Such organizations have gotten creative overtime to stop politicians’ attempts at suppression in their tracks. The League of Women Voters (LWV) has had a long history of pushing for legislation, like the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), that would make it possible for more people to vote. The NVRA, or “Motor Voter Law” is a law signed by President Bill Clinton in order to help make it easier for Americans to vote in a variety of different ways, such as being able to register to vote when one obtains a new driver's license and even being registered to vote automatically when one reaches the legal age (43, 44). Another organization fighting voter suppression is Let America Vote (LAV), which organizes online through grassroots advertising campaigns--one campaign even featuring the cast of West Wing speaking out about voter suppression (45). LAV has had 700,000 Americans sign up to help them execute the task of spreading their messages for fighting voter suppression, and through their methods of reaching out, have actually helped 110 politicians win elections--politicians who pledge to work to fight against voter suppression.
Think about it--as an American citizen, do you want to help more politicians win offices knowing that they look to push these forms of voter suppression methods while at the same doing their best to push the need to fight fake claims of voter fraud? As explained in Politics & Pollutants - the Ins & Outs of Environmental Racism, you, yes you, can help make a change happen in America. While it may seem like a bit much to chew, the best things in life are. Those who created organizations like the LWV and LAV started out where you are now--reading articles about racial injustice in America and hopefully thinking of ways they can solve those issues. I, Vinny Demme, will gladly take this opportunity to drive this fact home because it is 100% true… we all have the power to get important messages out to our networks, we all have the power to make a difference, and we all have the power to make the world a better place. All it takes is a little education and elbow grease, a lot of peaceful protesting, and taking matters into your own hands by organizing drives and maybe even running for office yourself.
Learn more about the fight against voter suppression, and how you can assist in the fight:
Even MORE Voting Rights Organizations:
8 Voting Rights Organizations You Should Know Before 2020 - Bustle
A little preview of next week’s post about Stacey Abrams
Sources & Links:
President Trump and Melania Trump test positive for Covid-19 - CNN | YouTube.com
First 2020 Presidential Debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden - C-SPAN | YouTube.com
Second 2020 Presidential Debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden - C-SPAN | YouTube.com
Long lines, high turnout in Georgia with early voting underway - CNBC Television
The (Still) Mysterious Death of Edgar Allen Poe - Smithsonian Magazine
Election Fraud in the 1800s Involved Kidnapping and Forced Drinking - Atlas Obscura
Resources on Voter Fraud Claims - Brennan Center For Justice
Background on Trump’s ‘Voter Fraud’ Commission - Brennan Center for Justice
New timeline shows just how close rioters got to Pence and his family - CNN
Report: Trump commission did not find widespread voter fraud - PBS
Low rates of fraud in vote-by-mail states show the benefits outweigh the risk - Brookings.edu
Centennial Exhibition (1876) - The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia
Voter fraud, suppression, and partisanship: A look back at the 1876 election - CBS News
61 Forms of Voter Suppression - Transformative Justice Coalition
A ‘Forgotten History’ Of How the U.S. Government Segregated America - NPR
Black imprisonment rate in the U.S. has fallen by a third since 2006 - Pew Research Center
Race and Wrongful Convictions in the United States - National Registry of Exonerations
America’s Prison System is Flawed - Pennsylvania State University
Texas closes hundreds of polling sites, making it harder for minorities to vote - The Guardian
10 Ways the League of Women Voters Has Helped Improve Our Country - League of Women Voters
About The National Voter Registration Act - The U.S. Department of Justice
The West Wing Wants to Make Sure You Can Vote - Let America Vote
Politics & Pollutants - the Ins & Outs of Environmental Racism
Comments