Swing State Rulings On Restrictive Voting Laws

Throughout the years many Americans have faced what is known as voter suppression. When researching voter suppression you will find that it is defined as a strategy to influence the outcome of an election by discouraging or preventing those with voting rights from voting. I interpret that the causes of voter suppression derives from that of equality issues or a misconception of government. However, history recorded the effects of voter suppression which leads to major violence, rebellion, strikes, or in some cases fear. The jarring act of voter suppression began early as 1776 when white men owning property were allowed to vote denying Jews, Catholics, and others their voting rights.

The right to vote is indispensable to any democracy because it is the means by which citizens can collectively decide issues. Nowhere in the Constitution of 1791 does it explicitly guarantee the right to ballot box for women and minority groups, thus, excluding the majority from participating in the political process. Indeed, only 6% of the American population voted in President Washington’s re-election in 1792 (Lepore 2). Article I, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution defers voting eligibility to state legislatures (The Heritage Foundation 3), implicitly condoning the disfranchisement of women, minorities, and destitute whites. Although one can argue the Constitution of 1791 merely reflected the white supremacist, patriarchal society of its time, the reality remains that the significant groups were excluded from participating in the political process.

           The U.S. electoral system was created to give every citizen a say in who their elected officials should be, but this system has failed miserably. The right to vote is a basic right that needs be provided to every American regardless of such traits as political party, religion, or ethnicity. It is unethical to deny a person the right to vote and historically that has been a major problem in the United States. Our election system is completely corrupt and voter rights is not the only problem, strategically drawing voting districts is also a major issue. Our current electoral system is corrupt and unethical because of gerrymandering, the breaking down of the voter rights act, and voter ID laws.

The American Constitution, as outlined in the Preamble, boldly defines its purpose as “We the People” (U.S. Constitution). Reasonableness suggests that the framers of the Constitution would provide appropriate legislation enhancing the citizenship’s right to actively participate in government via public elections given such a definitive statement expanding on the power of the people. However, American citizens do not possess a constitutionally protected right to vote. During the drafting period of the Constitution, only white male property owners could vote, however, voting rights have drastically changed throughout the history of the United States. Through amendments passed over the past two centuries, the Constitution has changed

Wonder who’s been a victim of voter suppression? Voter suppression has been a problem since the act of voting came into play. Politicians have schemed since the very beginning to get their way. With the citizens being the voters it’s our responsibility to spot crooked politicians. Sometimes what we see and what we hear are not the truth. With the voter literacy test and laws that dis-proportionally affect African Americans it’s only human nature to be discouraged. What is going on in society isn’t right to us citizens who do up ide by the law. Even with it being un-lawful, Voter suppression is still practiced because some politicians are crooked and the voter literacy test and laws that disproportionately affect African Americans are a prime example.

In contrast Midwestern states, as well as New Hampshire and Rhode Island are more likely to have white populations at or above the national average of 79% as well as higher GDP per state than their Southern counterparts as seen in Appendixes 4 and 5. Unlike Southern states, Midwestern states, plus New Hampshire and Rhode Island, have less need to keep minority and poorer populations, who are less likely to have a form of voter Id, from the voting booth because they do not hold as much sway in elections as they do in the south. In addition, a few of these states are Democratic strongholds negating any need to disenfranchise these populations as they make up the majority of the Democratic voting base. While political culture and region, race, and poverty level appear to be strong indicators of voter ID laws in the south, the Midwest alongside New

Chapter 8 topics varies from voter’s perspectives, constitutional amendments, and candidate’s perspectives. This election has raised many concerns for voters who are deciding whether to vote or to not vote. Voting is a privilege just like driving, but everyone is not able to partake in this privilege due to law barriers. I learned that the fifteenth amendment outlawed race-based restriction on voting. Later the twenty-fourth amendment which passed in 1964 forbided the use of poll taxes in federal elections. This has also been applied to state election since the court passed this in 1966.

The United States is a country anchored on the principle of inclusivity and mutual respect. The country has a dark past characterized with instances of racial profiling and discrimination which culminated into civil unrests realized in the mid-20th century. Moving forward, the country adopted strategic frameworks that were to guide towards a new era devoid of discrimination. The aspect of political participation was one fundamental instrument that was subsequently integrated into the American social dynamics. The enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 sought to empower the minority groups to participate in the electoral processes, and to eliminate the barriers that existed in the political landscape. Some of the achievements of the act

The 5-4 ruling to gut that protection unleashed an immediate wave of state laws that made voting more challenging, including the addition of identification requirements, scaling back of early voting and the tightening of registration rules. Many, including the Brennan Center for Justice, have characterized these new rules as a transparent attempt to suppress the vote of demographics, such as black Americans and younger voters, who tend to vote for the Democratic

In the article "The Big Lie Behind Voter ID Laws," the editorial board explains how Republican officials and legislators try to pass new voting laws such as requiring photo ID in order to keep eligible voters from voting. They explain how such laws target mainly minorities and poor people. Along with that, there is discussion of a Federal District Judge’s written opinion showing how the law abused the Voting Rights

The topics discussed in this research paper are some of the political issues that the people of the United States face everyday. Starting with the Voter ID laws, which were first enacted in the 1950’s by South Carolina (1). Since than it has been a method used by registered voters to present some type of formal identification before voting at there local government poll. This created a way to insure that residents of the united states did not vote multiple times and that the actual resident registered to vote was being represented. Although the disadvantages of the Voter ID laws are also endless, by enforcing identification to be present during the time voting period people who did not have the proper documentation were not allowed to vote. This created a demising situation between people who were legally registered to vote but did not have the proper identification document to vote therefore creating less votes in the voting process.

The 15th and 19th amendments play a major role in the heated topic of enforcing states to ID a citizen before being able to vote. The 15th amendment allows any citizen to vote no matter what race, color or previous condition of servitude. Also, the 19th amendment gave women the right to vote. With these amendments, they empower every citizen with the right to vote no matter any situation they are in. Yet, some states require voters to show photo ID to vote, for the sole purpose of preventing voter fraud. Only opponents of such voter ID laws argue that such laws disable the poor, the minority, and the elderly because not all of these citizens cannot afford a photo ID.

In 1973 Congress amended the Voting Rights Act and extended protections to members of “languages minorities.” The new language minorities’ classification meant that the act’s protection now extended to voters non-English speaking minorities. These classifications included those who spoke Spanish, Native American languages, Native Alaskan languages, and Asian languages. Some of the changes to the new amendment within the Voting Rights Act prohibited literacy tests as a requirement for voter registration. It also required jurisdictions with large minority language speaking populations to have non-English speaking ballots as well as oral voting instructions that conformed to the language minorities within their districts. Additionally, the new amendments to the Voting Rights Act also protected minorities from voter dilution (the nullification of minority group votes through a

The election in 2000 was a pivotal election for voters’ beliefs in the system of voting, over how we vote, who gets to vote, and will all of the votes be counted? In Florida in the year 2000, the voting problem was apparent throughout the day and night. People claimed that the lack of control and clarity is “an abomination of American justice.” Because of the poor planning and systems, Florida was forced to recount their election which brought out all of Florida’s voting problems to the American news. Throughout the dilemma, debates were being held between the United States Supreme Court and the Florida Supreme Court on the results of the many recounts.

Voter ID laws are so strongly opposed by low-income individuals, minorities, and elderly groups. These groups argue the laws target them because of the tendency of to vote democratic. These laws are trying to solve voter fraud where