7 Signs Voter Suppression Could Be Happening Near You

Even after the 15th Amendment guaranteed the right to vote for Black Americans, casting a ballot still came with barriers. Black voters were denied access to the polls through literacy tests, poll taxes, and intimidation by white supremacist groups (these didn’t disenfranchise white voters in the same way because of exclusionary “grandfather clauses”). Historically, voters of color and low-income voters have had their right to vote suppressed by those in power, and similar practices remain today -- just in new, more subtle ways.

In 2013, the Supreme Court gutted Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which previously required states with a history of racial discrimination in voting to submit all proposed voting changes to the US Department of Justice. Now, left unchecked, states are enacting policies that inhibit equal participation in our democracy. However, this doesn’t mean you should give up on voting. By understanding systems of oppression, you become more prepared to exercise your rights. Below are seven signs that this kind of voter suppression could be happening near you -- plus resources to make sure your vote and others’ votes will be cast.

1) Making it harder to register to vote.

Before you even hit the polls, you’ll need to register to vote at your current address (just takes 2 minutes!). While some states make it super easy (shout out to Oregon, which automatically registers folks to vote once they’re eligible), others have a few more obstacles to navigate.

For example, Georgia’s government got in hot water in 2018 for enforcing an “exact-match” law requiring info submitted in voter reg forms to match exactly with state records. Because of errors as small as missing hyphens and apostrophes, added single spaces or characters, and transposed letters, 53,000 voter registrations were cancelled -- and nearly 70% of them belonged to Black voters.

In New Hampshire, registering to vote in the state required proof of residence, including utility bills or in-state car registrations. A state judge eventually struck down the measure, saying it placed an undue burden on out-of-state college students, low-income residents, and residents experiencing homelessness.

Voter registration drives are an effective way to increase the number of folks registered to vote, particularly voters from historically marginalized groups like people of color and women. Some states, like Tennessee, have passed laws criminalizing voter reg drives with restrictions like required training and fines and misdemeanor charges for submitting too many incomplete forms.

Use this tool to see what restrictions your state has for holding voter registration drives.

2) Purging voter rolls.

Registering to vote is one hurdle, and in some states, staying registered can prove challenging due to voter roll purges. That’s when a state will “clean out” their list of registered voters, removing folks who they believe have either moved away or died, due to inactivity.

In 2017, Georgia purged over half a million people from its rolls, and then 87,000 of them re-registered, meaning they were eligible voters after all. Reports found that the cancellations disproportionately affected people of color. Mistakes like that are why Wisconsin’s Supreme Court is currently hearing a case that could result in 130,000 people being removed from the state’s voter rolls.

If you’re not sure whether you’re still registered to vote, go ahead and register again! (There are no penalties for doing so.)

3) Disenfranchising criminal justice populations.

Approximately 4.6 million Americans were forbidden to vote in 2022 because of felony disenfranchisement laws, which take the right to vote away from people involved in the criminal justice system (to varying capacities).

Depending on the state, these laws can impact voter rights for people in prison, people on parole, people on probation, and even people post-sentence. In Kentucky, Virginia, and Iowa, all people who have ever been convicted of felony-level crimes are permanently disenfranchised. In Alabama, there are fines and legal fees that people convicted of felony-level crimes have to meet in order to restore their right to vote, essentially acting as a poll tax that challenges low-income voters.

These laws also disproportionately impact Black voters, who already experience higher rates of arrest, conviction, and incarceration than their white peers. It’s estimated that 1 in 13 Black Americans has lost their voting rights due to felony disenfranchisement laws.

4) Reducing the number of polling places.

When it comes to voting, where you cast your ballot is just as important as how you do it. Ideally, everyone would have several local options to choose from, but that isn’t always the case. Under the guise of freeing up budgets/staff or streamlining elections, some states have closed down several voting locations, making it harder for voters to access the polls.

In Georgia, county officials have eliminated 214 voting precincts (or about 8% of the state’s polling places) since 2012, and most of them are in communities with predominantly low-income and Black voters. Voters in Florida saw issues with access when some counties moved polling places into affluent, gated communities. Less polling places also means longer wait times (as was the case in states like California and Texas on Super Tuesday this year), and research shows that Black and Latinx voters are more likely to have to endure them, waiting on average 45% longer than their white counterparts.

Most recently, in this year’s primary election, Kentucky slashed the number of polling places from 3,700 to 200. The county with the largest population of Black voters was left with a single voting place. Fortunately, the state still experienced historic levels of voter turnout (largely due to increased absentee ballot measures). People exercised their rights despite undemocratic conditions, but this should never have to happen.

Use this tool to find a polling place near you.

5) Restricting early voting.

For folks who have time-sensitive responsibilities like work or childcare, getting to the polls on election day can be a little tricky. That’s why most states permit early voting in some form, although some have made early voting more restrictive.

North Carolina’s state senate passed a controversial law that eliminated early voting the Saturday before Election Day. That day was the most popular day for folks casting their ballots early in 2018, and it was especially popular with Black voters. Ohio did something similar in 2014 when officials cut early voting on Sundays and weekday evenings, targeting “Souls to the Polls” groups led by Black religious organizations that took their congregations to cast their ballots following Sunday church service.

Use this tool to learn more about early voting policies and requirements in your state.

6) Enforcing rigid voter ID requirements.

Extensive research shows that voter fraud is extremely rare, yet some officials use the fear of voter fraud as a justification to enforce restrictive voter ID requirements at the polls. This can impact voter turnout for minority voters, voters with disabilities, and voters in rural areas, who disproportionately lack the required ID. Up to 25% of Black Americans of voting age lack government-issued photo ID, compared to 8% of white Americans.

For example, when North Dakota required voters to show ID with a residential street address a few weeks before election day, many Native American voters were left scrambling. Many Native reservations don’t use street addresses, so residents rely on P.O. boxes as their mailing address instead. Additionally, several Native voters relied on tribal ID, which doesn’t state an address. These ID restrictions can sometimes feel a bit arbitrary, like in Texas, where one can vote with a handgun license but not a valid student ID.

Use this tool to find detailed information about your state’s voter ID laws.

7) Restricting alternatives to physical voting and registration.

Did you know that five states currently conduct their voting almost entirely by mail? (The states are Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, and Washington, if you’re curious.) Even though those states have been doing it successfully for years, there’s still some apprehension from certain folks about the validity of mail-in voting.

Because of this, states like Texas have restrictive mail-in voting policies. In Texas, you can only vote by mail if you’re 65 or older, will be out of the county during the election, are in jail and not convicted, or have a disability that prevents you from going to the polls. This is especially challenging for voters to navigate right now during the coronavirus pandemic, leaving them with the choice of whether to risk their health to cast their ballots. (Texas has also been known to be restrictive of online voter registration too.)

Even those states that do offer mail-in voting don’t always meet the needs of voters. For example, New York and Wisconsin both failed to send out absentee ballots to everyone who requested them in 2020's primary elections.

Use this tool to learn about mail-in voting in your state and request your absentee ballot.