Voter Suppression Kills Democracy
October 4, 2021
During this election season many people have found their voice is being silenced due to voter suppressions. Voters have been complaining about
the lines being too long to vote. This is a headache for voters and some practices are unsafe when trying to operate during Covid-19. Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio can all be grouped together as Democrat cities and although more than 11.2 million people from Texas voted this year, several counties are controlled by the Republican party.
This makes it difficult for a candidate for the Democratic party to win and, according to the Texas Tribune, is a victory that has not happened since Jimmy Carter ran against Gerald Ford in the 1976 presidential election. Some may question the reasons for the 40 year stretch being attributed to voter suppression practices within the state as well as gerrymandering.
Gerrymandering is an act of manipulating boundaries (normally cities, or counties) for political gain. Many Texans can often be found gerrymandered in favor of the Republican party. One example is seen in the multiple supporters of the current president, Donald Trump, outside of the polling locations trying to persuade voters to vote for the Republican party. In addition, voter boxes were put out all over the country as a safe, or trustworthy way to vote. Yet, the outcome of this idea was opposite the intended use as boxes were limited to marginalized cities.
Harris County, for example, had one voter box even though the county has a population of about four million people. Another form of suppression was shown in the long lines that wrap around buildings. All over the country millions of Americans went to different precincts but a lot had the same experience. Being, after waiting in the long lines, many were turned away for not being properly registered, inevitably silencing their voice.
America is founded on democracy, but it seems the country has strayed further and further from this idea after every election. If democracy cannot give the American people their right to a fair election, it can never truly be called a democracy.