Voting Rights and Election Administration in America
On Oct. 17, 2019, Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, testified before the Subcommittee on Elections of the Committee on House Administration. At the hearing, “Voting Rights and Election Administration in America,” Clarke testified about modern day voter suppression techniques, and how casting a ballot is becoming increasingly more difficult.
Some of the voter suppression techniques Clarke pointed out are:
- Making voter registration more difficult and restricting organizations from helping people register;
- Aggressive voter roll purges;
- Restrictive photo ID laws;
- Polling police closures in marginalized communities;
- Polling place relocations to sites deemed hostile by voters of color;
- Ineffective language assistance for non-English speaking voters; and
- Faulty technology that risks votes not being counted properly or exposes the machines to risk of tampering.
Without full and vigorous enforcement by the U.S. Justice Department to protect the right to vote and secure equal justice for all, Clarke explained that it is left up to organizations, such as the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, to ensure everyone has access to the ballot box.
Vote dilution is also becoming increasingly common as well, and it disproportionately affects communities of color. Several states, including, Georgia, North Carolina and Mississippi, have a long history of “packing” African Americans into a single district, so they do not have equal opportunity to select candidates of their preference.
Clarke advocated for a full restoration of the Voting Rights Act to stop these modern forms of voter suppression.
Read the full testimony here.