After many Black Americans learned of their freedom in 1865, they joined forces to educate one another on how to obtain their full rights as citizens. It took years of determination and planning before Black men were given the opportunity to cast their ballot, subsequently followed by white women and last of all, Black women.
The suffrage movement has survived and is now thriving over a century later as thousands of Black descendants of the diaspora and other minorities continue to fight for protections against voter discrimination. Vice President Kamala Harris addressed this topic in a letter to the Equal Ground Education Fund on Juneteenth, a holiday she dubbed a National Day of Action on Voting this year.
“Across our nation, extremists have attacked the sacred freedom to vote. This not only harms voters in every state but also disproportionately harms Black voters throughout Florida,” Harris wrote.
The Equal Ground Education Fund is an organization based in Florida with a focus on uplifting Black voters. While poll taxes, literacy tests and Jim Crow laws don’t exist today, other egregious suppression efforts still do. For example, in Georgia, voting centers are prohibited from providing food and water to those waiting, despite heat, and any voter can also come to a county clerk’s office and challenge the voter registrations of as many people as they would like.
“As we commemorate 159 years since enslaved Black people across the country were freed from slavery, we also live with the reality that extreme lawmakers are rewriting that very history and working to silence us just like they did nearly 160 years ago,” Genesis Robinson, Equal Ground interim executive director, said in a statement.
Georgia’s governor Brian Kemp, alongside Florida’s leader Ron DeSantis, have both created election police units specializing in the arrest and prosecution of fraudulent voters. These policies oftentimes recriminalize people with past convictions who may be confused about their voter eligibility. DeSantis proudly touted that the Office of Statewide Prosecution had charged dozens with voting crimes already.
Harris used the open letter to reaffirm the Biden administration’s commitment to equal voting rights and opportunities in spite of recent repeals.
“As you all know, the freedom to vote is fundamental. Our democracy is stronger when everyone participates, and it is weaker when anyone is left out,” Harris wrote.
However, Black individuals across the country are continually being excluded and attacked. According to the Brennan Center, Georgia enacted a law in 2022 that makes it a crime for election officials to accept private funding or anything else of value for election administration.
In Arizona, lawmakers are requiring voters to show proof of citizenship for a cross check with state forms that list your country of birth. This process inherently creates a barrier for naturalized citizens who could easily be turned away in the case that election officials take issue with the country of birth listed. In Texas, a bill being considered aims to increase the maximum number of voters that can be assigned to a polling place which could also increase wait times disproportionately impacting communities of color.
“We will continue to fight to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act—federal legislation that would expand voter registration and voting access while fighting discrimination,” Harris concluded in her letter.
Although the bill passed in the House, it awaits further approval from the Senate. If championed there, it has the potential to impact elections vastly by ensuring voters are notified of changes to voting practices and require review before redistricting and changes to election methods can be made in areas with high rates of minority voters.