The Shadow of Voter Suppression in Contemporary Society
On March 25, 2021, Georgia Republicans passed the controversial bill SB 202, which intends to revise state election law, creating a resurgence of tension between Republicans and Democrats following the 2020 Presidential election. The full text of Georgia’s voting law indicates that the voting bill was passed in reaction to a lack of confidence in Georgia’s election systems due to charges of voter suppression, alleged voter fraud, and controversy over signature-matching requirements. Democrats and civil-rights groups deemed the voting bill a measure to restrict voting in future elections, but Republicans insist the bill will improve voter processes and confidence in Georgia.
Georgia voting patterns were a focal point of the 2020 Presidential election, particularly following Donald Trump’s request for multiple recounts of over 5 million votes. The election reignited controversy surrounding the integrity of the U.S. election process, including claims of voter fraud from the former President, who tweeted, “The Georgia recount is a joke and is being done under protest.” Joe Biden’s small margin of victory in Georgia remained contested by Trump in the months after the election, motivating Republican lawmakers to introduce legislation to restore confidence in U.S. elections.
The provisions of SB 202 include new voter ID requirements, bans on handing out food and water within a certain distance of polling areas, and a reduction of the number of voter drop boxes available in Georgia counties. Voter drop boxes were installed in Georgia due to the Covid-19 public health emergency, but many of them will be removed. For example, Fulton County in Northern Georgia will go from 38 to 8 drop boxes.
Representative Zulma Lopez of the Georgia legislature said that the bill would disproportionately affect minority voters, commenting that “the number of drop boxes would be reduced to 9 from 33” in her district. Previous policies of signature matching also garnered criticism from Republicans, especially former President Donald Trump, so SB 202 includes new voter ID requirements that stipulate that voters must provide a form of identification distinct from signature-matching, such as a driver’s license or social security number.
The criminalization of providing water to voters has sparked public outrage over the bill, especially among voting rights groups which mobilize to support people standing in long lines at voting locations. People who violate the new law may be sentenced with up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine, which opponents of the bill argue will disproportionately affect Black voters, who make up one-third of the state’s population. Long lines are more common amongst predominantly Black and Latino populations due to fewer polling stations available for citizens.
According to the Kinder Institute for Urban Research, “In 2018, Black and Latino voters waited 11 minutes and white voters 9 minutes, on average. But as the percentage of nonwhite voters in a precinct increased, so did wait times — from 5 minutes in districts that were 90% white or more, to 32 minutes in districts that were 90% nonwhite or more.” For Black voters waiting in line for hours due to the want of polling stations, being barred from receiving water or food within a certain distance from the polling station will significantly harm the experience of voting.
Voting delays act as a barrier to Black voter turnout, as many voters cannot carve out hours of their day to wait in line outside voting stations. Georgia’s SB 202 includes new provisions indicating that “voting shall be conducted beginning at 9:00 A.M. and ending at 5:00 P.M.,” which critics including President Joe Biden have called an “un-American” initiative, especially given the numerous polling stations in previous elections that remained open late to allow all voters waiting in line to cast their votes. Proponents of the bill argue that the law will make little difference to the operation of polling stations because the law permits voting between 7am and 7pm.
Resistance to Georgia’s new voting law stems from the comparisons that have been made to voter suppression tactics which historically have been pursued under the guise of securing voting, such as poll taxes and literacy tests. Democrats and civil rights groups continue to voice their opposition to the bill, claiming that the provisions of Georgia’s voting laws included modern practices of racist voter suppression; tension around the bill remained high as Democrats asserted that the new voting laws resembled the Jim Crow era of voter suppression by stripping authority from marginalized voters and imposing new rules for county election boards. While controversy over the bill continues, several other states intend to take similar action, with Arizona, Florida, and Texas moving forward with bills to reconstruct voting practices.