Your Right To Vote Is Powerful — That’s Why Some Politicians Are Determined To Take It Away

By Molly McGrath


Dilpreet* thought she was prepared whenever she showed up to her polling location. She was registered to vote, her name was on the rolls, and she brought three different forms of photo ID: her ID from her prior residence state, her new alumni ID card Marquette University, and her old student ID, all with her name and picture. However due to the specific requirements of Wisconsin’s strict new photo ID law, she wasn’t allowed to cast her ballot. Wisconsin’s law mandates that voters show one kind of ID from a very short list of options, and none of the three IDs she brought to the polls qualified.


“It was very frustrating, and I was exceptionally disappointed at the end of the day,” Dilpreet notified me. “But, this experience will actually motivate me more in the future, because I know those laws are purposefully implemented to create it more tough and demotivating. Voting means my voice gets represented in the issues that I care about, and the changes that I would like to be able to see in our state and nation.”


Dilpreet’s experience is sadly not unique, and thankfully, neither is her perseverance. Voters more and more encounter unnecessary obstacles that make it more complicated to physical training their most fundamental right. Specific and limited types of ID, proof of citizenship documentation, registration restrictions, and cuts to early voting are just some of the forms of voter suppression laws across the nation that deliberately impede young people and people of color from voting.


The nation’s long and ugly history of voter suppression is no secret. Although over the last decade, we’ve witnessed a modern-day resurrection, with a new breed of restrictive laws. Right after historically underrepresented groups turned out in record numbers in 2008 to vote for the nation’s first Black president, state legislators took notice — and started a nationwide campaign of voter suppression laws.


Things got worse in 2013. The Supreme Court gutted a key segment of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), a law that for decades has protected the correct to vote. The VRA garnered support from both political parties — including Presidents Richard Nixon and George W. Bush. This key section of the VRA essentially required places in the U.S. With the worst histories and continued race-based voting discrimination to ask the federal government for approval before enforcing new voting laws. That way, the federal government could make sure the change would not illegally discriminate against minority voters.


this mixture put together a new voting landscape: Since 2010, 25 states have enacted new laws restricting the correct to vote — laws like the Wisconsin photo ID law that disenfranchised voters like Dilpreet. That key segment of the VRA protected voters in nine of those 25 states.


Although don’t get angry — get organized. Protecting our elections and the correct to vote isn't just a job for lawyers or the courts, it’s a job for all of us. We’re fighting back. We can win.


On a crisp Saturday afternoon in October, before the 2018 election, I joined volunteers to canvass low-turnout precincts on the north side of Milwaukee. One of the people I met was Omari*, a 18-year-old high school senior who notified me he couldn’t wait to vote for the opening time, especially soon after attending a rally with his companions a number of days earlier.


Although there were a couple of problems: It was far less than two weeks out from the election, and Omari still wasn’t registered to vote. He kept a full schedule between school along with a part-time job, so he hadn’t had the chance to register or get the needed photo ID to vote under Wisconsin’s strict law. The same law that kept Dilpreet from voting threatened Omari’s vote.


On Election Day, volunteers helped Omari get to the DMV to obtain a ID that complied with the photo ID law. Then he headed to the polls, where he was able to register to vote that same day thanks to the availability of Election Day registration in Wisconsin. Upon casting his very first ballot, the poll workers excitedly rang a bell in celebration.


This level of determination and volunteer dedication fuels voting reform across the nation. In Michigan in 2018, a broad coalition of groups organized around Promote the Vote, a ballot measure that voters overwhelming passed to prepare voting in the state more available and secure, including reforms like automatic voter registration, protections for military families, no-excuse absentee voting, and the ability to register on Election Day. Because of this people-powered movement, Michigan will visualize a very different election this year, with more eligible voters able to cast their ballots than ever before — voters like Omari, who would otherwise be sidelined by unnecessarily early registration cutoffs.


This year, the ACLU is continuing our work to press reforms that will expand access to the ballot. In Iowa, we’re working to restore the correct to vote to people with past felony convictions upon finalization of their sentences. In 2018, Florida voters passed a measure, Amendment 4, that re-enfranchised over a million Floridians with past felony convictions. Iowa can be next.


And as for protections under federal law? We’re urging members of Congress to pass the Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would restore those vital anti-discrimination protections of the Voting Rights Act that we lost. The Home already passed this crucial segment of legislation, and right now it’s the Senate’s turn. Reaching out to your senator is as easy as hitting send.


With election season coming into full swing, this is just a preview of what’s happening across the nation. Without consideration of where you live, or how much or how little time you could contribute, we need you, and voters need you. Right considering that, if your right to vote wasn’t your most powerful possession, you need to wonder why some people work so hard to take it away.


Molly McGrath is a voting rights campaign strategist for the ACLU’s national political advocacy department.


Over 4 million people will turn 18 between right now and the 2020 election. MTV's +1thevote is encouraging all potential first-time voters to register and vote this November. It's about time to prepare voting easier to do, and piece of the milestones already happening in your life, from prom to graduation to birthdays. It's a year-long party and +1thevote is inviting you to aid us shape the future. Who's your +1?


*Editor's note: Last names have been omitted for privacy.