Editor’s note: This commentary is by Bob Hawk, of Walden, who is a retired organic farmer and ecologist, and a still active homesteader. He is an organizer in the Hardwick area for Lean Left Vermont.
The policies and agendas that flow out of Washington represent the voice of the electorate only if there are fair elections. But voter suppression tactics – purging/removing names off voter registration lists, strict voter ID laws, closing polls in black or minority communities, gerrymandering — employed in many states held by Republican legislatures have undermined that basic function of our democratic republic, affecting all Vermonters.
From 2014 to 2016, 17 million people nationally have been purged from the voter rolls, according to the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice. In 2017, Republican Brian Kemp, the then-secretary of state of Georgia, purged over 500,000 voters, mostly African American and minority voters, from the voter registration lists. That increased his chances to defeat the African American candidate, Democrat Stacey Abrams, in the 2018 race for governor by 54,000 votes. In December 2019, an additional 300,000 have been purged. (Mother Jones, 12/17/19)
In Wisconsin, which President Donald Trump won by a mere 22,000 votes, conservative groups want to purge 234,000 voters before the 2020 election, 55% of whom come from municipalities where Hillary Clinton defeated Trump in 2016. In Oklahoma, 275,000 have been removed since 2015 for the sole reason that they were inactive voters, even though the Constitution grants the right to vote regardless of how often a person actually votes. Last year they removed another 88,000. The purges were often done in secret, and without notifying the voter. (Mother Jones, 12/17/19)
State voter ID laws were crafted by Republican legislators based on the types of photo identification that minorities, the poor, and people of color do not have or have much more difficulty in obtaining, i.e. driver’s licenses. In Alabama, for example, HAVA’s (Help America Vote Act passed in 2012) list of valid identification such as a utility bill, Social Security card, or even a government-issued public housing ID, were no longer accepted, just the state-issued photo ID driver’s license. Republican Gov. Robert Bentley, under the guise of fiscal exigency, then closed 31 driver’s license offices in mostly black counties.
“With no viable public transportation, no access to vehicles, and the closest DMV sometimes nearly fifty miles away and only open for a few days a month, many Black Belt county residents were simply and completely disfranchised.” (“One Person, No Vote,” Carol Anderson)
In Texas, a similar voter ID law requiring a state-issued driver’s license was passed two hours after the Supreme Court’s 2013 ruling in Shelby County v. Holder. “Republican legislators recognized that it would require some citizens to travel up to 250 miles round-trip to obtain a license … (since) one-third of the state’s counties, including some of those that are heavily minority, do not have DMV’s.” (“One Person, No Vote,” Carol Anderson)
How do actions in other states affect Vermonters? New federal rules pushed by the Trump administration, which lost the popular vote in 2016 by over 3 million, will cut $7.5 million in food stamp benefits to 5,200 households in Vermont alone. Many Vermont schoolchildren will no longer be eligible for free school lunches. And bills to address the climate crisis and raise the minimum wage, which affects all Vermonters, all languish in the Republican-controlled Senate. Mitch McConnell, Republican leader of the U.S. Senate, has not taken up legislation proposed by Democrats to ban voter purging.
I urge everyone to watch the documentary film, “Suppressed: The Fight to Vote,” about the rigged 2018 election in Georgia. After the film’s showing at several locations in the state, there will be discussion, including action ideas to fight voter suppression. For more information about showings in your area, go to leanleftvt.org.
The event is free and open to the public, but donations are encouraged. All proceeds will benefit Fair Fight 2020, founded by Stacey Abrams. Fair Fight is building voter protection teams in 20 key states across the country.
