NORMAL- Voting oppression has many faces in the United States of America. Many states struggle with the same issues surrounding voting rights, while others have moved towards a more open and progressive agenda to ensure their residents can vote.
Voting is a fundamental right of every U.S citizen. The Constitution of the State of Illinois, Article III section three states, “All elections shall be free and equal” (Constitution of the State of Illinois).
Further, section eight states, “No person shall be denied the right to register to vote or to cast a ballot in an election based on race, color, ethnicity, status as a member of a language minority, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or income” (Constitution of the State of Illinois)
The obstacles we do not consider when voting is sensitivity to name searches, who has a valid ID, and what you do if you are homeless. It goes to show that even in the state of Illinois there are problems to solve to ensure every Illinoisan is heard in their vote.
The National Low Income Housing Coalition released, A History of Voter Oppression in late 2020, which explains voter suppression dating back to 1776 when New Jersey passed a law deeming women and black men unfit to vote after they granted everyone in the state the right to vote. Although the state of Illinois does not face backlash like other states, the requirement of photo identification to vote may seem mundane but it originated as an oversight, and states began to implement it after Shelby County v. Holder was decided.
According to the Brennan Center for Justice, “In April 2010, Shelby County, Alabama filed suit asking a federal court in Washington, DC to declare Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act unconstitutional. Section 5 is a key part of the Voting Rights Act…On June 25, 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that the coverage formula in Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act — which determines which jurisdictions are covered by Section 5 — is unconstitutional because it is based on an old formula.”
According to the Center for Civic Engagement website, the Voter Engagement Coalition, “Voting is a constitutional right and we believe elections should be inclusive. We envision a democracy that is truly of all people, by all people, and for all people.”
This election season, alongside their members, the Voter Engagement Coalition, has seven election interns to educate and inform the student body at Illinois State University about the importance of voting. Caitlin Bradford is one of those interns. Bradford is a senior majoring in political science.
As an election intern for the Center for Civic Engagement Bradford shared, “one of my primary responsibilities is tabling, we also do class presentations on voting and getting registered, RSO outreach to do additional presentations.”
In the Bloomington-Normal community, Bradford shared some of the obstacles voters may face when attempting to vote ranging from access to polling places due to time constrictions and voters not being able to afford to take off work to vote on either election day or in the early voting period. Also, transportation is a factor when a majority of the population relies on public transportation to get to their polling place.
The U.S Census Bureau classified Bloomington’s diversity population in 2020 to be 77.3% White, 9.7% Black or African American, 8.6% Asian, 6.2% Hispanic and 0.4% American Indian and Alaska Native. Hence why there is a lack of conversation about voter suppression. When the majority of the population has not problems when voting, there is lack of resources and conversation about how minority communities do face obstacles when it comes to voting.
Bradford shared that not educating the younger population on the history and various present enactment of state governments legislature, is a form of voter suppression.
“On the Redbird Voter Guide, specifically looking at Voter Restoration, we provide a lot of resources to websites that discuss issues like the war on drugs in the Black community…we specifically discuss women of color and the 19th amendment…we talk about tribal communities which is less in central Illinois…but we talk about address requirements, postal offices not providing street addresses for tribal communities hence not allowing them to vote.” Bradford shared. “We talk about youth voting, we talk about the LGBTQI+ community…access and accommodation and voting… Our Voter Restoration deals a lot with trying to educate people about the different forms of suppression.”
After this busy election season, the Center for Civic Engagement reported that more than 1,400 Illinois State students registered to vote on Election Day at the Student Bone Center. The active work and commitment put forward has seen its efforts bloom into a great voter turn out this election season at ISU. Every voter matters and the Center for Civic Engagement will continue to encourage the student body and community to vote.
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