For much of the United State’s history, we have had explicit laws banning certain races or genders from participating in democracy. Lawmakers for generations have attempted to right those wrongs, from the 19th amendment allowing women the right to vote in 1922 to the 1964 Civil Rights Act, banning subjective qualification requirements for minorities to access the polls.
Gone are the days of needing to count backward from 200 by 7, today we’re left with a much more covert means of inhibiting people from voting. Lawmakers and state officials suppress the vote of Blacks and minorities by limiting early voting options, moving polling locations out of minority districts, voter roll purges, and dissuading people from taking the action of voting.
