PSN 2011 Election Reform Roundup: Conservatives Push Voter Suppression Nationwide

Conservatives wasted no time in exploiting their numeric advantages following historic gains in state legislatures during the 2010 midterm elections, particularly in the area of voting rights. Of the over 285 election reform bills enacted in 47 states in 2011, the majority  were passed in conservative-dominated legislatures and will serve to restrict access to the polls in time for the 2012 election. In addition to the passage of well-publicized voter ID legislation, successful rollbacks to existing laws, including shortening early voting periods and eliminating same day registration, will mainly serve to benefit conservative candidates at the public’s expense.

Doug Chapin, director of an elections-administration program at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs, calls the barrage of attempts to restrict voter access the “battle before the battle,” when parties try to advance what they believe are the fairest — or most advantageous — rules in time for next year’s election. Conservatives have long believed that limiting access to the polls works in their favor. As conservative activist and founder of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) Paul Weyrich commented to a crowd of evangelical leaders in 1980, “I don’t want everybody to vote. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.” The stakes in 2012 are so high that voter ID requirements and other voter suppression bills have been rammed through many statehouses this year, even with legislators’ full knowledge of the high implementation costs that will be incurred to struggling state budgets.

Despite the undeniable fact that 2011 was a difficult year for those seeking to protect voters from disenfranchisement, measures as diverse as campaign finance reform, online registration, and restoration of voting rights still managed to gain momentum in many states. Furthermore, right-wing overreach was rebuked not only by the veto pen, but by an electrified public that is now gathering signatures to place repeals of voter suppression legislation on the ballot and pushing shareholder petitions to increase political accountability at publicly-traded corporations. Building on these advances and continuing to sway public opinion will be critical in 2012, particularly to counterbalance the second round of attacks on voting rights that will inevitably come next year.

Suppressing the Vote through Voter ID Bills

In perhaps the biggest election reform story of 2011, legislation to require photo ID from voters at the polls had its most successful year to date. Prior to 2011, only Georgia and Indiana had photo ID laws so strict that not even signed affidavits were accepted as a means of allowing voters to cast a ballot. This year, conservatives, stoking misguided public fears of mythical “voter fraud,” introduced bills in an astounding 33 states. To date, voter ID laws have been enacted in Alabama, Kansas, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin. Bills in Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, and North Carolina passed both chambers, but were vetoed by their governors. Voters in Mississippi will weigh in during this year’s November election when a petition to sanction voter ID appears on the 2011 ballot.

New Obstacles to Voter Registration, Early Voting

The conservative strategy of gaining an electoral edge in 2012 by shutting minorities, youth, low-income, and elderly voters out of the political process goes beyond legislation to turn those without proper photo ID away from the polls. Proponents of voter suppression have found that making it harder to get on the voter rolls in the first place is an equally effective means of ensuring that historically disenfranchised groups that have traditionally participated at lower rates in our democracy stay away from the polls.

Protecting Clean and Fair Elections

While conservative advocates of lower turnout and increased barriers to voting may have had a good year in the statehouses, increasingly fed-up members of the public found ways to circumvent right-wing initiatives through non-legislative means. In addition to a successful citizen-driven petition to put a repeal of Maine legislation to eliminate Same Day Registration on the 2012 ballot, citizens in Ohio are gathering signatures in an effort to do the same for the states’ disenfranchising omnibus elections law. Meanwhile, gridlock at both the state and federal levels regarding campaign finance reforms to address a post-Citizens United landscape has motivated corporate shareholders to introduce resolutions at proxy meetings in an attempt to increase corporate political accountability and disclosure.

Looking Forward to 2012: Protecting the Vote, Changing the Debate

As many of the same legislative efforts to make it more difficult to vote promise to be renewed next year, progressive lawmakers are not just looking to protect voting rights but to the change the debate in order to ensure clean and fair elections in 2012 and beyond. This includes taking on the “voter fraud” myth at its roots, and highlighting the real problems confronting democracy in our states: unacceptably low voter turnout, ever-increasing corporate influence in our politics post-Citizens United, and registration and voting systems that are in desperate need of modernization. As Ari Berman noted in a recent piece in Rolling Stone, “The real problem in American elections is not the myth of voter fraud, but how few people actually participate.”

In some states, activists are not waiting for 2012 sessions to make their voices heard and impact the national political debate. Efforts are already underway in Maine and Ohio to allow voters to go to the polls this November to reject recently passed laws repealing same-day registration and a range of attacks on voting rights, respectively. The success of concerned citizens and activists in gaining enough petition signatures to force these issues to the ballot will hopefully be followed by success at the ballot box, but no matter the result this November, these efforts and others like it point the way forward for all who are interested in fighting back against the partisan (and expensive) attack on voting at the state level and in strengthening our democracy. Whether it is through increasing disclosure requirements to take on corporate influence, advancing voter registration modernization measures to grow the electorate, or engaging the ongoing conservative attacks on young voters and historically disenfranchised groups, lawmakers and advocates will have many opportunities to change the debate around voting and elections in 2012.