Voting Rights and Jan 6th
Two days ago was the anniversary of an attack on the Capitol, a bastion of American Democracy. On January 6th, 2021, a mob of violent insurrectionists breached the building in order to overturn a free and fair election. There is a troubling similarity to the misinformation campaigns surrounding voter suppression laws, which are being passed through state legislatures across the country. I encourage everyone to step forward to our state legislatures directly, or to encourage your representatives in Congress to vote on these very important issues to American Democracy.
There is a tool called the filibuster (requiring more than a simple majority to pass legislation) that both parties have used to hinder important policies from being passed. There are a huge number of exceptions to the tool created by the GOP to push through legislation in the Senate (such as the confirmation of multiple Supreme Court Justices during Donald Trump’s presidency). The filibuster is in need of major reform, and I would urge all voters to contact their Senators about these issues. Thank you all.
Here is a link from one of our partners, When We all Vote, which allows you to email your senators: https://secure.everyaction.com/OuKrm29tGUCtHbFQ5TS0Ug2?
Voter ID laws: Why are they controversial?
Hello all, here I am going to take a look at the controversy surrounding voter ID laws.
Voter ID laws are a very polarizing issue, with Republicans being almost overwhelmingly in favor while Democrats being mostly against. Democrats have argued that this class of laws amount to voter suppression, while Republicans have stressed ballot security.
What exactly does a Voter ID entail?
A Voter ID is a government issued ID, yet some forms of ID are accepted and others not, depending on the state. For example, Texas does not allow student IDs, yet allows concealed weapons permits. Some states also require IDs that include photos, while others do not. The issue resides in the fact that in many inner-city/minority neighborhoods, prospective voters may not be able to navigate to such a site that may give out a voter ID. As a result, they can be considered as a form of voter suppression. This can also be coupled with the fact that people who reside in these neighborhoods usually vote Democrat, leading many to believe voter ID laws to be part of a political agenda.
Let’s take a look at the two major counterarguments, and whether they make sense.
The first point is ballot security, and is the main reason for these laws.
However, the rate of voter fraud in federal and local elections is extremely low, and the implementation would prevent very little while disenfranchising thousands of Americans. According to the federal Board of Elections, there was only 31 cases of voter fraud among the billions who voted since 2000. The chance of voter fraud occurring is much lower than the chance of being struck by lightning. Of course, ballot security is a very important issue, but it is something that is almost completely under control by the BOE, unlike voter disinformation. In previous elections, Russian bots have sown misinformation on numerous social media platforms in an attempt to influence the election, yet responses to combat this have been slow. Many politicians should focus their legislation on more important issues, instead of pursuing a personal agenda.
To be fair, I also questioned how difficult it could be to obtain a voter ID. If it were not difficult for a legal citizen to obtain a voter ID, then there technically shouldn’t be an issue. Another question is, What means are in place to prove identity aside from Voter ID laws? Shouldn’t you have to be able to verify your identity?
On average, it takes $175 to obtain a governmental ID. This includes document fees, travel expenses and waiting time. Some residents in rural areas have to travel more than 170 miles to obtain a voter ID. More than 11% of citizens do not currently have a governmental ID. 25% of African Americans do not have a governmental ID, compared with only 8% of whites.
As Senator Raphael Warnock said, “a person should have to confirm that they are who they are in order to vote.” At the polling places, there already exists methods to check your identity that do not require extra steps, such as providing: state-issued identification card, military ID, tribal ID, bank statements with name and address. There are also ways to rectify situations where a voter does not have any identification, such as issuing a provisional ballot or having poll workers vouch for voters. Strict voter ID laws have decreased turnout among minority voters by almost 3%.
It’s pretty expensive to go through this process also, according to the ACLU, “Indiana spent over $10 million to produce free ID cards between 2007 and 2010.”
In conclusion, we at Atooinc are committed to ballot security, yet find the distinctions with the types of ID as discriminatory against minority voters. If gun licenses of valid forms of ID, then school IDs should also be. I hope this post has been informative, and I’d like to see your opinion on this issue, either through email or comments. As always, have a nice day!
Sources:
https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/voter-id.aspx
https://today.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/FullReportVoterIDJune20141.pdf
http://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/legacy/d/download_file_39242.pdf
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2014/10/09/gao-voter-id-laws-in-kansas-and-tennessee-dropped-2012-turnout-by-over-100000-votes/?utm_term=.98af0620fca6
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/08/06/a-comprehensive-investigation-of-voter-impersonation-finds-31-credibleincidents-out-of-one-billion-ballots-cast/.
http://www.lwvwi.org/Portals/0/IssuesAdvocacy/PDF/ISACA%20Voter%20ID%20Report%20020211%20final2%5B1%5D.pdf
What causes Voter Apathy?
I am part of my school’s Board of Elections, or BOE. Student Government is actually quite complicated, we have an organization for each of the four grades, and an overarching organization for the entire school. This year was pretty disappointing in terms of competition, there was only one contested race (aside from the freshmen, who have not entered high school yet). This lack of participation is due to the fact that people recognize that student government is a popularity contest. After they recognize this, by junior year, there is no one willing to put time and effort into a platform just to lose. I know that the causes of voter apathy are different than that of actually running for office, however, the same logic can be applied. People either don’t have faith in the election system, think that they won’t be affected, or think that the elections are decided already. I’ll address each one in turn
- The United States Election system is extremely secure, with less that 0.01% of cases of voter fraud occurring. There are also thousands of cybersecurity experts and BOE officials that prevent any interference from foreign nations or terrorist groups. We can be reasonably sure that the Elections represent the will of the people.
- The policies that are enacted by our leaders have a real and present impact in our lives. There can be no doubt that people are impacted by changes to healthcare, taxes, or public safety.
- This may be true in a schoolwide election, but in the United States, there always will be a competitive field with candidates that all have backers and many volunteers. Anything might happen in an election, so your vote might even be the deciding factor.
Have a nice day!
Ranked Choice Voting
Hi, after a long break, I’m here to talk about the Ranked Choice voting that will be implemented in the Democratic Primary! The Republican primary only has 2 main candidates, so the system is less important for them.
So how does it work? It’s not too difficult. First, voters rank up to five choices on a ballot. There is no disadvantage to ranking more than 1 person, but you can rank any number of votes you want as long as they are less than 5. After Election Day, the votes are distributed to the candidates based on their first choice. If no candidate has a majority, then the candidate with the least votes are eliminated. That candidate’s votes are then distributed among those remaining in the field. This process will conclude when a candidate has a majority of the votes. They will be declared the winner!
So that’s Ranked Choice Voting. Personally, I think that it is an effective way to maximize political impact. See you next time!
Mail-in Ballots: A Controversial Issue
So I said I was going to make a series of questions and answers, but I got a little caught up with work. I also heard on the news that there has been a lot of controversy about mail-in ballots and their safety. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, more people than ever feel that it isn’t safe to go outside and vote. As a result, experts say that 70% of votes cast could be by mail-in ballot.
President Trump has vocally opposed mail-in ballots, citing security issues. Other members of his party have supported him and tried to block expansion of the policy. So what are the facts, and are his fears able to be validated? Let’s find out.
These were my sources:
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/everything-you-need-to-know-about-mail-in-voting-in-2020 and
https://www.npr.org/2020/06/04/864899178/why-is-voting-by-mail-suddenly-controversial-heres-what-you-need-to-know
Introduction
Yesterday, one of the visitors to our website asked why there is a low voter turnout among Asians Americans. Although Asian Americans have a lower turnout rate than other ethnic groups (according to a report by Pew Research Center, in the 2012 presidential election, the voter turnout rate among Asians was a dismal 47%, as compared to 64% for non-Hispanic white and 67% of black eligible voters), voter apathy is not unique to the Asian community. I was recently invited to be the campaign manager of my friend Daniel’s bid for Junior Caucus President. When I took a closer look at the voting records in the past, I was taken aback by my discovery that only a shockingly low percentage of students (30%) voted each year. Many of my peers say that a school election doesn’t matter, and only the so-called popular kids always win. Therefore, they don’t participate and vote. As a result, their prediction comes true, not because it was fated to happen, but because they themselves caused it. How do I know this to be true? I myself used to think like this, and I would just create a self-fulfilling prophecy. I would think that this extends to voting in the general election, the sentiment that “there are so many people voting, it doesn’t matter if I don’t vote.” The problem is that 39% of the people either thought this way or had some issue with voting, which actually made their decision matter, i.e., they could have changed the result of the election if they did cast their votes.
I am going to devote this and the next couple of Q&As to the issue of voter apathy, in particular, misunderstandings, misconceptions and other problems underlying voter apathy.
So the first thing I wanted to talk about is the misconception that “my vote isn’t important.” My brother Gabe made a compelling speech on this topic and I would highly recommend you to listen to it on our website. You can also download a pdf copy of the transcript below the audio.