Daily Meme: Voting Rights and Wrongs

 

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  • It's Election Day! Which means, of course, lots of people are having lots of problems voting.
  • In New York City, the voting machines that serve as the ur-text for our government's technology woes are malfunctioning.
  • Philadelphia is having some voting booth issues too.
  • In states where Voting Rights Act preclearance requirements once kept restrictive laws off the books, the Supreme Court's recent decision in Shelby County v. Holder is causing problems.
  • Many people are already fighting back, and have been fighting back for awhile.
  • Texas's new voter-ID law, in particular, has been getting a lot of pushback.
  • Another thing preventing many Americans from voting? Laws that keep citizens with criminal records from casting a ballot. That's over 5 million people.
  • In many states, absentee and early voting means that turnout pm Election Day itself can be a bit underwhelming. In Virginia, however, day-of voting still reigns supreme. Expect depressed voter turnout given that many people will find it logistically impossible to vote.
  • Some new laws have opened up voting to more citizens, like one in Tacoma Park, Maryland that lets 16- to 18-year-olds vote in local elections. The town is the first in the nation to expand enfranchisement to teens.
  • In the aggregate, however, today looks like another election with another round of voting-rights problems that just got worse.

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