Generations of Americans have sacrificed and even died in efforts to expand the right to vote.
Yet across the country, powerful corporate interests and right-wing politicians are working hard to make it more difficult for citizens to vote.
As a result of these cynical attempts to turn back from the progress America has made in expanding voting rights, millions of voters are in for a surprise when they go to the polls. They will find new requirements that have never before existed, requirements that have been put in place to keep particular voters – students, minorities and senior citizens – from having their voices heard.
In Ohio, for example, Gov. John Kasich and the Republican-controlled Legislature pushed through a measure that limits early voting and places new requirements on absentee ballots. The corporate-backed restrictions on voting are designed to reduce the ability of low-income and minority voters to cast a ballot, particularly by forcing boards of elections to close their doors on the weekend before Election Day.
Voters whose jobs, family responsibilities or disabilities make it difficult for them to stand in long lines, often for many hours, will now find it harder to exercise their fundamental right to vote.
In Florida, Gov. Rick Scott pushed through a vast set of regulations that are designed to restrict the ability of working middle-class voters to cast a ballot. The period for early voting shrinks dramatically, and voters who have moved to a new county or have married and changed their names in the months prior to an election will not have their ballots counted on Election Day. They will only be given provisional ballots which may or may not be counted.
In Wisconsin in May, Gov. Scott Walker enacted a law that will require every voter to show a government-issued identification card before they are able to cast a vote. A study conducted by the University of Wisconsin determined that this change in Wisconsin’s law will have a serious impact, particularly on students and minorities. More than 50 percent of the African-American men and 49 percent of African-American women in the state do not have a driver’s license or passport.
Proponents claim that these changes are necessary to protect against voter fraud, but as a detailed study published by the Brennan Center for Justice notes: “By any measure, voter fraud is extraordinarily rare.”
It is no coincidence that these restrictions on voting rights occur in many of the same states where the wealthy have attacked collective bargaining rights, privatized public services and cut programs that serve the working middle class to the bone. They have every reason to fear that the Main Street Movement created in the wake of their regressive policies would hold them accountable for their actions on Election Day.
That is why they are attacking the right of seniors, minorities and workers to cast an unfettered vote. That is why their actions are not only wrong, but a direct assault on our nation’s commitment to democracy. Voters have every right to be angry about these cynical efforts. We need to hold accountable the politicians who took these radical steps the next time we vote, before they eliminate our voice at the ballot box completely.
Lee A. Saunders is the national secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union.
