Freedom to Vote in Jeopardy, Especially for People of Color – brennancenter.org

Whatever happens with the indictment of former President Trump for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election, the pressures on our democracy continueoften to the detriment of Latinos and other growing communities of color.

Many politicians continue their efforts to undermineelectoral systems and push anti-voter policies,promptingthe reintroduction of legislation in Congress toestablishbaseline national standards to protect elections against sabotage. Known as theFreedom to Vote Act, the bill would also, importantly,end partisan gerrymandering and help curb big money in politics.

Many of these problems target the ability of Latinos and other communities of color to gain political power through the ballot boxand the democratic processas their numbers grow.

The Freedom to Vote Actspecificallyaddressesobstacles thatharmBlack and Latino voters, such as long lines on Election Day, byrequiring states to ensure that lines last no longer than 30 minutes. It would alsorestrict states fromblocking donations of food or water to voters waiting in line.

It may be hard to believe that these anti-voter practices exist andthat we would needa congressional bill to stop them, but manyconservativestates have been busy in recent years passingsuchrestrictive laws. Among other things, the lawsalso make voter registration more difficult, prevent early voting, close polling places, and limit voterassistancelike language help for Spanish-speaking voters.

And gerrymandering, the discriminatory manipulation of voting district boundaries to favor the party in power, is a major reason Latinos lagin politicalstrength in Texasdespite the fact thatthey havesurpassedwhites as the largest ethnic and racial group in the state. When Texas lawmakers drew new congressional and legislative maps after the 2020 census, they shockinglyfailed tocreate any new Latino electoral opportunities in the metro areas where Latino communities are growing most rapidly. (Latino groups are challenging this omission in court.)

It is significant that among thefederalchargesthat SpecialCounselJack Smithbrought againstTrump is violation of acivil rights lawmaking it a crime to threaten or intimidate anyone in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege provided by the Constitution or by federal law.

Thatcivil rights law,Section 241 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code, historically was used to prosecute the Ku Klux Klan for deterring Black Americans from exercising their voting rights and has been applied to punish broader efforts to subvert election outcomes.Manyof the Trump campaigns legal challenges and voter fraud allegations after the 2020 election centered on invalidating votes in cities and counties with large Black and Latino populations, including Detroit, Philadelphia, and Georgias Fulton County.

Theescalatingefforts to disenfranchise communities of color are an assault on ourdemocracy at a time of profound demographic changes in our country. These attacks need to be repelled, with both old and new laws that protect our freedom to vote freely and equally.

A version of this article was originally published in Spanish byLaOpinin.

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Freedom to Vote in Jeopardy, Especially for People of Color - brennancenter.org