By Kim Watkin
The League of Women Voters of Vermont (LWVVT) is committed to protecting the right to vote for ALL Americans. We believe voter suppression is a threat to our fundamental constitutional rights.
Voter suppression is the attempt to prevent or discourage certain Americans from registering to vote or casting their ballot. LWVVT recognizes that these methods disproportionately affect people of color, young people, the elderly, and people with disabilities.
Voter suppression methods include:
- Limited, strict, and discriminatory voter ID laws
- Restrictions on days and methods of voter registration
- Last-minute Election Day barriers (making it a crime to provide water and food to people standing in voter lines)
- Elimination of voting locations with the vast majority in underserved communities
- Unjust voter purges (removing eligible voters from voter rolls based on inaccurate data and without adequate notice to voters)
- Attempts to limit access to early and mail-in voting (restrictions of and penalties for assisting voters in return of their absentee ballots)
- Gerrymandering/Redistricting so that underserved voters feel their vote doesn’t count
For further information, see the following sources:
- League of Women Voters, www.lwv.org/voting-rights/fighting-voter-suppression
- American Civil Liberties Union: www.aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/block-the-vote-voter-suppression-in-2020