This article is dedicated to Representative John Lewis and all those who fought and are still fighting for democracy.
Hello everyone! For those of you who read it and for those of you yet to read it, my last article discussed the endangered American two-party system. Now, I turn towards a grimmer threat, this one attacking American democracy itself: voter suppression and, more importantly, how to fight it and who already is. For this, I interviewed many youths on their thoughts regarding the fight for democracy.
The idea that it is a political strategy to limit democracy may seem alien to my readers from democracies other than America. Or, perhaps in the words of some American youths themselves, voter suppression is “autocratic”, “racist”, “regressive”, “fascistic”, and “disgusting”. It is, however, a shame that a nation often looked to as the birth of modern democracy finds itself embattled over whether democracy should even be expanded. I am reminded of our 2016 and 2020 as international observers were confused as to how our someone as antithetical to American values like Donald Trump could be elected. It is, however, exponentially more worrying if free and fair elections can no longer be held in the first place.
Current Events
Let’s refresh on the current events in American democracy. In 2020, former president Donald Trump declared, without proof, that election fraud was rampant and that this was the reason for his loss (by seven million votes). This, of course, was ridiculous and served a purely political purpose.
On January 6, 2021, two major events happened, each interconnected with the other. First, the U.S. Congress convened in a special joint session mandated by the Constitution to count and certify the votes of the Electoral College. During this time, many Republicans voted against the certification of election results, delaying the ultimate reality of Biden’s official victory. Second, a mass of rioters and insurrectionists, fueled by the lies of the then-president, stormed the U.S. Capitol to prevent the certification of the election results. Both events highlighted a threat to American democracy, in which the trust in our systems is so undermined and second-guessed that people will attack the government rather than accept election results.
Put plain and simple, Democrats are winning more as the Republican Party falls out of touch with Americans. The GOP naturally sees this as a problem, but rather than changing party policies to gain more voters, they change government policies to force Democratic-leaning voters out of the playing field. In my home state of Georgia, Senate Bill 202 (SB202) was passed, which, among a variety of harmful provisions, goes so far as to hand election oversight power to Republicans. In the arguably most important Republican-held state of Texas, conservatives pushed for voter restrictions so relentlessly that when Democrats left the state to deny a quorum in the state legislature, arrest warrants were issued for those defending democracy.
Nationally, Democrats are pushing for two major pieces of legislation: the For the People Act, which regulates campaign finance and elections law, and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, a revival of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that satisfies recent court decisions striking down the VRA’s key provisions. Rick Hart, President of the Young Democrats of Georgia, stated that for fairness and equity in democracy to be achieved, Congress must pass both bills “swiftly and send both bills to President Biden’s desk.
Voter Restrictions
Voter restrictions are, simply put, oppressive and undemocratic. As Vibha Chemangunta, Vice Chair of the Texas High School Democrats, defines it: “‘voter suppression’ is a political ploy”. A political ploy that harms democracy and takes away the voice of many.
Voter suppression is not the addition of new requirements to vote. Voter suppression is the addition of new requirements that are specifically designed to prevent democracy rather than making it more efficient or secure. Talking with Libel’s editor-in-chief Larissa Saar, I asked what the public reaction to American-like voter suppression would be in Western Europe. She said she found it odd that requiring IDs to vote is an issue, but that then again “the problem that arises in the US isn’t actually that IDs are required but that some people aren’t able to have one”.
Let’s take another look, this time at specifically racially targeted restrictions. Black churches are central to Black engagement and political action. Now, what specifically do Black churches do for voter turnout? They host ‘souls to the polls’ on Sunday mornings after church to go vote. One must think like a Republican who opposes democracy when looking at this situation, however. Black Americans are more likely to vote for a Democrat than a Republican, therefore high Black turnout means more Democratic votes. Republicans in the Texas state legislature presumably thought of this when crafting the discriminatory provisions in a voter restriction bill: don’t allow voting on Sunday mornings. Only after they were repeatedly called out by nearly everyone did the Texas GOP walk back the provision. Additionally, language minorities like Spanish and East Asian language-speakers have difficulty voting or being informed. This prevents, again, Democratic-leaning demographics from voting.
Voter suppression is “an outright attack on our democracy and an attempt to implement ‘minoritarian’ rule”, says Julian Fortuna, a Georgia-based activist.
Gerrymandering
What is gerrymandering? It is just “another form of voter suppression”, states Georgia activist Tigerlily Harrington. Gerrymandering is the process of redrawing representative districts to gain a certain outcome. Advocates for fair redistricting use a phrase which I heard many times while interviewing people for this article: “the politicians choose their voters instead of voters choosing their politicians”.
Christian Dent, the 77th Youth Governor of Georgia and youth activist, as well as Fortuna and many other youths I interviewed, agree that gerrymandering harms youth. Dent explained how students at the Georgia Institute of Technology can “walk through four different state house districts through campus, just on their way to class.” Both also highlighted gerrymandering splitting the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia.
Both Dent and Fortuna testified before an Athens, Georgia hearing by the Georgia General Assembly Joint Senate and House Redistricting Committee. When I asked them what their thoughts were as they delivered their speeches, they responded that it was about their communities. Fortuna asked himself “how do you tell the story of redistricting most effectively?” Dent thought of the communities he has grown up in and how they were cracked and divided to prevent their voices from being heard. It is, perhaps, the most important value when fighting for democracy to remember that democracy isn’t partisan. “It is not a liberal versus conservative,” Dent said. He’s right. It is democracy versus anti-democracy; it is those in favor of voting expansion versus those in favor of voter suppression; it is those who value power more than people versus those who place communities before themselves.
Hope for Our Democracy
Writing this article was incredibly difficult if I’ll be honest. But when I think that this battle is hopeless, that democracy will shrink to make way for partisan politics, that inaction will prevail over justice, or that the status quo will remain instead of matching a changing world, I am reminded of youths.
That is what this is all about, hope in the form of ourselves. We inspire one another to be better and to make our world better. My last question when I interviewed Larissa Saar for this piece was whether America was still viewed as a nation known for its liberty and democracy. I was surprised by her answer. I expected to be disappointed but unsurprised as she would tell me that America’s light was dimming. Instead, Saar told me something which has stuck with me and has bee the rallying cry for those who continue the good fight. “The democratic system has held up.”
There are so many things to be done and so many problems to be solved. If anyone can do it, it is youth. I believe that we should all answer the call and fight for our democracy. We must get in the good trouble for the good fight to be won.
Interviews by Luke Netto with Rick Hart, Vibha Chemangunta, Julian Fortuna, Tigerlily Harrington, and Christian Dent. Complete interviews can be found here.