It is necessary to strengthen the efforts, from the legislative point of view, to guarantee the right to vote, said experts at a conference held by Ethnic Media Services.
Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].
Growing racism in the U.S., attacks against the Asian-American community, language barriers, among other problems, have been imperative for millions of immigrants and people of color have not been able to exercise their vote safely in recent years, so it is necessary to strengthen efforts, from the legislative point of view, to ensure the right to vote, experts said.
Enacted in 1965, the Voting Rights Act (VRA) prohibits racial discrimination in elections and has been considered a landmark achievement of the civil rights movement.
However, the 2013 Supreme Court ruling in Shelby v. Holder significantly weakened VRA protections, clearing the way for states to pass a series of laws that disenfranchise voters and discriminate against voters of color.
In light of this, two bills could mark a turning point in the upcoming elections, guaranteeing access for all those who seek to exercise their right to vote in a secure manner and away from racial discrimination at the polls.
Thus, the People's Act and the John L. Lewis Voting Rights Promotion Act are initiatives that seek to prevent foreign interference in elections, limit the influence of money in politics, and modernize infrastructure to increase election security.
Such legislation also establishes nonpartisan redistricting commissions, a 15-day early voting period for all federal elections, and increased access to mail-in voting and automatic voter registration, among other provisions.
For Wendy Weiser, vice president for Democracy at the Brennan Center for Justice, "these bills are critical to stopping the scourge of voter suppression facing our country today and protecting voting freedom in the future."
He said this during a briefing by Ethnic Media Services, where he noted that voting rights in the U.S. are under attack in a way they have not been since the Jim Crow era, as "the push to restrict access to voting in state legislatures is unprecedented, both in terms of volume and intensity."
He noted that as of a month ago, there were 360 bills seeking to restrict voting rights, which have been introduced by legislators from 47 states, "that's a dramatic increase compared to any previous year, and these bills have been moving aggressively through the legislature."
He further explained that there are seven significant voter suppression bills that have passed, and there are others moving aggressively through state legislatures in Arizona, Texas, Michigan, and New Hampshire, while about a dozen other states, at this point, have the potential to drastically reduce access to voting, especially for voters of color.
Given that, he said, "Congress can and should stop this legislative campaign across the country to suppress the vote. It has the power to do things under the Constitution and there are some very strong provisions."
That is why, he reiterated, the two bills "are key pieces of federal legislation that, taken together, have all the key reforms we need to protect voting rights and strengthen democracy in the United States."
In this regard, Thomas Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), explained that the voting restriction bills "seek to tighten voter identification requirements, make registration more difficult, and expand voter list purges.
In this regard, he clarified that all these measures particularly affect ethnic communities.
And, he said, "in most cases, these local initiatives have been justified by false narratives of alleged electoral fraud, without the slightest evidence".
Latino vote is decisive
Saenz noted that the growth of the Latino vote is significant in many of the country's largest states.
"Latinos are now more than a quarter of the registered voters in the state of California, and more importantly, Latinos and the growth of the Latino vote is what has contributed significantly to a shift in politics in a number of states, starting with California."
"California politics has changed permanently, as we've seen over the last quarter century, and that has been largely contributed to by the Latino vote. We've seen more recently changes in Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado, states have gone from being purple or even red to being more consistently blue," he noted.
However, he stressed that the big problem is Texas, which could also turn around with the growth of the Latino population, since this community represents 40 percent of the population in that state.
"They are the second most populous state, a state that just gained two more representatives in the House of Representatives this week, and whose power is only projected to grow in the future. But growth of Latino turnout in Texas elections is a threat. If Texas flips the way these other states have flipped, the whole calculus of presidential elections will change permanently. That is the threat perceived by certain political forces behind efforts to suppress the vote for everyone, but particularly in communities of color," he added.
Thomas A. Saenz pointed out that, even at a micro level, in localities across the country where the Latino community is reaching majority proportions of the vote, leaders seeking to retain power know that, if they do not gain the support of the growing Latino community, they will take steps to suppress the vote.
Currently, he stressed, legislation is pending in Texas that would allow observers inside polling places to take cell phone videos of voters who are receiving assistance in the voting process.
"This is nothing more than intimidation. This is a measure of why we need Congress and the president to step in to protect us against these depredations of voting rights."
He noted that there is currently an Administration that supports voting rights and facilitates the participation of broadening voter participation in communities, such as the Latino community.
However, that was not the case before January 20 of this year, as then President Donald Trump blamed Latino voters as fraudulent and for their failure to win a majority of the popular vote in 2016.
He explained that Latinos are often implicitly or explicitly the ones who are accused by leaders like Donald Trump of engaging in voter fraud "without a shred of evidence."
The expert noted that in the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which he expects will soon be considered in the House of Representatives and then in the Senate, there are important provisions to recognize.
"We must protect not only against the typical long-time vote suppressors in parts of our country, primarily the South, including the state of Texas, but we must also anticipate that wherever a new community is reaching a critical mass to threaten the powers that be, protections must be put in place."
The above, he said, to ensure that the new vote suppressors engage in voter intimidation simply to preserve their own power in the face of a growing community, such as Latinos or Asian-Americans.
"We have to make sure that we are targeting, not just serial vote killers, but copycat vote killers. And the legislation, which has to be considered in Congress, will ensure that we do that."
It is worth noting that while the Latino community went to the polls in large numbers in the last election, there are still very low levels of registration, "so as a percentage of all eligible voters, we are still lagging behind and those are some of the reasons why we need to facilitate registration and the actual casting of ballots in the Latino community."
Minority communities most affected
Hilary Shelton, senior vice president of advocacy and policy for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), said the U.S. is one of the few countries that does not automatically register its citizens on the voter rolls when they turn 18, but does so for the draft.
According to Jacqueline De León, an attorney with the Native American Rights Fund (NARF), the situation has severely affected Native American voters, as her organization has challenged North Dakota's voter ID law in court for the past four years.
Also, Montana's ballot collection ban, Alaska's witness signature requirement for voting during the pandemic, and the refusal to open an in-person polling place on the Blackfeet Reservation, which would have forced tribal members to travel up to 120 miles in order to vote.
He added that many Native American reservations do not have polling places and post offices can be hundreds of miles away.
"Due to continued discrimination and government neglect, many Native Americans live in overcrowded homes that have no address, receive no mail and are located on dirt roads, which can be impassable in wintry November," De León added.
The Asian-American community has also been heavily targeted and affected when it comes to casting their vote, as language barriers are also used as an excuse for these people not to exercise their right to vote, said John C. Yang, president and CEO of Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC).
"Language barriers are one of the biggest impediments to the Asian-American vote, with one-third of Asian-Americans having limited English proficiency," he said.
He added that, in all election polls, monitors have noted that Asian language signs and interpreters are missing, limiting this community's access to the ballot. "Ensuring effective language assistance is critical to closing this ongoing barrier in national and local elections."
