There are times when I run across FaceBook postings that are worthy of posting in the TPI. Do you recall Women’s Suffrage? If you are a bit young and do not recall from your schooling, the words relate to the fact women in the United States were not allowed to vote until passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920.
A stark reality, but a reality that we should never forget. Yes, there are conservatives in the nation who would deprive certain minorities the right to vote. Those same men, could be convinced that your vote is also not worth the time expended in vote tabulations.
You have to know by now, GOP officials do not speak out-of-pocket or extemporaneously. If this tea party leader spoke such words, we can rest assured she has been privy to similar for people in higher level position. Maybe, not from the persepective of a planned strategy, but certainly intimated in one of their many “playbook” strategy sessions.
Now, for the short screed I ran across on Facebook. Note the vintage booklet for days of old Days that remind of current GOP voter suppression.
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A Mighty Girl March 21 · Edited
The fight for women’s suffrage in the US lasted 72 years from the first women’s right conference in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848 to the passage of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote in 1920. The text of the amendment is simple, straightforward, and to modern Americans, absolutely obvious, but at the turn of the twentieth century, it was an unpopular point of view among many.
The pamphlet pictured here was created by an organization founded in 1911 to actively oppose state and national suffrage efforts, the National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage. In it, they listed several reasons for opposing women’s suffrage including: “Because it is unwise to risk the good we already have for the evil which may occur.” The group disbanded in 1920 after the passage of the 19th Amendment.
This year will mark the 94th anniversary of women’s right to vote and, for Women’s History Month, we’re celebrating a few of the original Mighty Girls — the suffragists! The suffragists were activists who worked tirelessly to secure that right for themselves, their daughters, and future generations of American women. Women are still grateful for the work of their suffragist sisters; since the 1980s, women have been turning out to vote in significantly higher numbers than men.
To introduce children and teens to the amazing women of the US suffrage movement, check out our blog post on “How Women Won the Vote: Teaching Kids About the U.S. Suffrage Movement” for numerous reading recommendations: http://www.amightygirl.com/blog/?p=2346
A Mighty Girl also features special collections on two of the most famous early American suffragists: Susan B. Anthony (http://bit.ly/1mlifMW) and Elizabeth Cady Stanton (http://bit.ly/1oGAhIj).
To learn more about the contributions of suffragists, Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, and their important legacy in securing women’s right to vote, the film “Iron Jawed Angels” is highly recommended for viewers 13 and up (http://www.amightygirl.com/iron-jawed-angels)
The excellent “One Woman, One Vote” documentary also tells Paul’s story, along with that of the Suffrage Movement’s other key leaders such as Anthony and Stanton — for viewers 10 and up (http://www.amightygirl.com/one-woman-one-vote)
“Hello. I’m calling to let everybody know that Governor O’Malley and President Obama have been successful,” the call said. “Our goals have been met. The polls were correct, and we took it back. We’re OK. Relax. Everything’s fine. The only thing left is to watch it on TV tonight. Congratulations, and thank you.”
Paul Schurick, second right, listens as his lawyers, Matthew Bennett, center, and A. Dwight Petit, left, talk to reporters after a jury was selected for Schurick’s trial Monday, Nov. 28, 2011 in Baltimore. Schurick, a longtime aide to former Gov. Robert Ehrlich, is on trial for his alleged role in using robocalls to suppress voter turnout in Ehrlich’s 2010 rematch against Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley. (AP Photo/Brian Witte)
Voter suppression
The United States of America has a governing constitution with amendments, and related law, which grants the nation’s legally authorized citizens the right to exercise the privilege of ‘the vote’. Can you think of any constitutional right that is more sacred, than the right to vote, and free speech? If you have to think about that question you are not aware of millions across the globe who do not the right to vote (or even express their thoughts about who should govern their nations).
The right to free uninhibited opportunity to vote is being suppressed by focused and dogmatic interest on the socio/political Right. What segments of the population are affected and why”?, you ask. Ethnic minorities, college students and in some cases the poor, are the unwitting victims of crafty and deceitful political maneuvering. Those victim segments joincollective bargaining, National Public Radio, ACORN, and Planned parenthood as either right-wing agenda-driven targets or they are perceived as part of Democratic Party voting blocks.
The 72 page reports is a detailed review of the whys, hows, and tactics for national voter suppression.
First, the report provides the context for the emergence of these block the vote measures.
Second, it details various block the vote initiatives proposed or implemented in a number of states, and the disproportionate effects of those measures on voters of color in particular, including minority voters who are poor, elderly, and young.
If the report is s bit voluminous for you, a quick review of a few charts in the THE RISE OF ELECTORAL STRENGTH OF VOTERS OF COLOR‘ Section; pages 7 – 10 of the report. The 2008 election saw a rise on minority voter registration and particaption that the GOP (and many conservatives) find undesirable and worthy of efforts to suppress future occurrences. The data for 2008 was astounding and unprecedented in US History.
Data in Brief
The 2008 elections marked an historic moment in the racial composition of the American electorate, the “most diverse in U.S. history.”
People of color in 2008 comprised 26.6% of all U.S. citizens of voting age—a record share. 19 Translating this demographic shift into political strength, voters of color registered and participated in the 2008 Presidential Election in the following record numbers:
• Nationally, the gap in voter turnout rate between eligible white voters (66.1%) and eligible African-American voters (64.7%) was nearly eliminated.
• African-American women had the highest voter turnout rate (68.8%)—a first for the nation.
• The number of African-American voters who cast ballots in 2008 was 15.1% higher than in 2004, representing an increase of 2.1 million African-American voters. The number of Latino voters who cast ballots in 2008 was 28.4% higher than in 2004, representing an increase of nearly 2.2 million Latino voters. 23
There were times in our past when the Constitutional right to cast votes was not shared among all citizens. Anti-Bellum Blacks through the year 1965 and women were denied the Constitutional right for centuries.
Voter registration card, Alamance County, North Carolina, 1902, with statement from registrant of birth before January 1, 1867, when the Fifteenth Amendment became law.
The Fifteenth Amendment is the third of theReconstruction Amendments. This amendment prohibits the states and the federal government from using a citizen’s race (this applies to all races),[2] color or previous status as a slave as a voting qualification. The Congress proposed the Fifteenth Amendment on February 26, 1869.[11]The final vote in the Senate was 39 to 13, with 14 not voting.[12]Several fierce advocates of equal rights, such as Massachusetts SenatorCharles Sumner, abstained from voting because the amendment did not prohibit devices which states might use to restrict black suffrage, such asliteracy testsandpoll taxes.[13]
Map of Women’s Suffrage laws in various states of the US immediately before passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920.
♦ Full suffrage; ♦ Presidential suffrage; ♦ Primary suffrage; ♦ Municipal suffrage ♦ School, bond, or tax suffrage; ♦ Municipal suffrage in some cities; ♦ Primary suffrage in some cities; ♦ No suffrage
Voting was not an issue for other minorities based on small demographics groups at or the minority group was assimilated into the ‘majority’ population (i.e., Italians immigrants, Irish Immigrants and other white immigrant groups). Immigrants of color were simply not an issue as their numbers were minuscule in relations to the white majority and large numbers of blacks (African-Americans).
Suppressed Democracy
Imagine not being able to vote, or being denied opportunity to vote for any reason other than having been stripped of the right to vote for legal reasons? Do you feel good about the imagery and messages associated with demeaning helplessness inherent in having your constitutional right taken away or restricted. My ancestors suffered voting restrictions for many years: literacy tests, poll taxes, unable to register (fear of death), or simply told ‘not to vote. How about your ancestors? Millions lived as such, and for reasons that fit universally in a bottle labeled ‘oppression‘.
An oppressor is an oppressor! They tend to spread their will and agendas across many areas and when one areas is in the fold, they move to another.
The nation is experiencing a more sophisticated ’rebirth and proliferation’ of voter restrictions that can be described no other way then a ‘deprivation’ of democracy. Or, if you prefer the right to contribute to the ‘republic’ as so many like to reference.
As the nation gears up for the 2012 presidential election, Republican officials have launched an unprecedented, centrally coordinated campaign to suppress the elements of the Democratic vote that elected Barack Obama in 2008. Just as Dixiecrats once used poll taxes and literacy tests to bar black Southerners from voting, a new crop of GOP governors and state legislators has passed a series of seemingly disconnected measures that could prevent millions of students, minorities, immigrants, ex-convicts and the elderly from casting ballots. “What has happened this year is the most significant setback to voting rights in this country in a century,” says Judith Browne-Dianis, who monitors barriers to voting as co-director of the Advancement Project, a civil rights organization based in Washington, D.C.
You have read, heard or witnessed the effects of the Tea Party on our society. Some say the attention to federal and states spending focus of the tea party is good. The “good’ is completely overwhelmed by the undercurrent of danger inherent in the Tea Party. From the greedy and selfish genesis of the movement to its clear and present harm to the economy, as well as its fringe racism and bigotry, is fading usefulness (to its Founding Fathers) the vestiges of the movement lingers.
If you know of the Tea party, you know that it is the ‘child’ of the Koch Brothers via FreedomWorks, Americans for Prosperity, Dick Armey and unnamed others. The goals of the Tea Party are well documented and not worthy of discussion here and now. My concern is the obvious efforts by the far right conservatives to influence future elections via ‘voter suppression’.
The right to vote is the cornerstone of American democracy. Our votes affirm the legitimacy of our democracy. The right to vote is so essential because we use it to preserve and protect all other Constitutional rights. It serves as a check on our political leaders and as a source of power for their constituents. In this way, the vote is both a tangible measure of what we are as a nation, and of what we aspire to be.
The Executive Summary makes a compelling case for an ideal voting experience that is as diverse and inclusive. A case that is addressed as, while ideal and what we should strive for, we have sectors who are working to the direct opposite, via suppressing the vote.
These concerted “block the vote” efforts are a direct response to two important recent developments: (1) the unprecedented levels of political participation by African Americans and other voters of color in the 2008 Presidential Election, and (2) the significant growth of communities of color, as reflected in the 2010 Census.
Report summary of suppression “attacks”…
• Fourteen states enacted a total of twenty-five measures that will unfairly and unnecessarily restrict the right to vote and exact a disproportionate price on African-American and other voters of color.
• Florida, Georgia, Texas, and North Carolina experienced are seeing active voter suppression that affects the black community. Suppression activiites are being focused in South Carolina, Alabama, and Tennessee base don high levels of growth int he Latin community.
¤ The restrictive measures adopted by these states include:
» Tightening the requirements for voter registration or making the voter registration process unnecessarily difficult.
CAGING
Voter caging is a notorious voter suppression techniqueused to challenge the registration status of eligible voters to prevent him or her from voting in an election.
Usually, caging occurs when an official-looking, non-forwardable piece of mail is sent to a group of registered voters, often to minorities and students. The parties involved in caging then compile a list of voters whose mail was returned as undeliverable. On Election Day, these organizations will use the undeliverable mail to challenge voters at the polls, utilizing law enforcement and attorneys to support their challenges.
The goal of caging is two-fold. First, is to force as many voters as possible to cast provisional ballots, which require voters to follow-up the day after an election for the ballot to be counted.
The second goal is to create long lines at the polling place as the caging operation challenges voter after voter.
» Increasing disfranchisement of people with felony convictions.
» Substantially reducing the opportunity to vote early or by absentee ballot.
» Erecting barriers to participation on Election Day itself (restrictive government-issued photo identification requirements). And, deploying barriers to elections modeled by American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) conferences.
Topics that may not appearto directly impact us are at times not high on our attention list. Voter suppression is not an attack on the rights of a distant people, it is an attack on democracy. If you have read through this article you have joined the ‘call-to-action” as one who will not stand for allowing far-right ideologues perpetrate manipulative conservative dogma on the world in which we live.
“Caging” voters and stiffing ”voting blocks” is a direct affront against your freedoms.
4.) Between Freedom and Bondage: Race, Party, and Voting Rights in the Antebellum North by Christopher Malone. New York: Routledge, 2008. 272pp. (Vol. 18 No. 3 (March, 2008) pp.235-238)
The Pardu's Scroll 