Hidden History: Voter suppression lives — too bad

June 5, 2011|Robert Watson

Over the past few months, the world's attention has been focused on the struggle among Muslim states in the Middle East and North Africa toward the first, difficult steps of political freedom. Unfortunately for them, the road to democracy will be difficult at best, and we may not like the results. Americans understand this, as our own path to voting rights for all was long and bloody.

When the nation was founded, not everyone was able to vote, as religious clauses and property requirements limited full enfranchisement. The rights and privileges of citizenship were limited to a few land-owning, white males.

But, in the 1850s, provisions requiring citizens to own property and pay taxes in order to vote were eliminated. Not long after the end of the Civil War, black men were extended the right to vote with the 15th Amendment. Women would have to wait another half-century until the 19th Amendment in 1920 assured their right to vote.

Along the way, Southern states like Florida used an array of devious mechanisms to deny voting rights to certain groups. This included literacy tests, grandfather clauses, poll taxes, "whites only" primaries and outright intimidation.

During the 1960s, the nation moved closer to becoming a full democracy. The 24th Amendment in 1964 outlawed underhanded efforts to limit voting, and the 1965 Voting Rights Act assured the right to vote to all citizens. Subsequent years saw the voting age lowered to 18 and efforts to promote voter registration.

It has been two centuries of difficult progress, but America is right to be proud of its political maturation, which is why Floridians should be up in arms over the actions of their leaders. Paradoxically, while America watched the drama of freedom unfold during the Arab spring, Florida's governor and Legislature were busy weakening the integrity of the state's election system.

After long opposing election reform, Gov. Rick Scott and Republican leaders in the Florida Legislature, fresh off impressive victories in the 2010 election that gave them full control of the state, suddenly found the issue.

The problem is that their version of reform is anything but:

The secretary of state can now impose written opinions and guidelines on local supervisors of election (who are elected), a power grab at the expense of local voters.

It will be more difficult for Floridians who move before the election to vote on Election Day.

Independent groups that register voters will find it harder to do so and will be hit with fines if they do not submit voter forms within an impossibly brief 48 hours.

Early voting will be reduced from 14 to eight days.

What the "reforms" will not do is address any real problem. The Republican plan does nothing to improve voting technology, does nothing to assure better-designed ballots, does nothing to limit the impact of outside money, and does nothing to improve voter education and turnout. The net result will be lower voting rates and an increased cost to local election offices. There is a reason, after all, that every nonpartisan election group in the country opposes Florida's new plan.

Not only should our efforts be to increase rather than decrease turnout, but the integrity of elections depends on them being free from partisan manipulation. The impetus behind the Republican plan is that early voting helped Democrats, and both recently registered voters and those who need to change their addresses around election time are more likely to vote Democratic.

It is especially sad that this is happening in Florida because of the state's recent struggles with elections. It is also ironic that Rick Scott came to power with supporters calling for reform. He and his backers dumped tea because of efforts to provide affordable health care to children, rescue the U.S. auto industry and invest in sorely needed infrastructure in our communities. Yet they are silent over voter suppression.

Robert Watson, Ph.D., is a professor and coordinator of American studies at Lynn University.