Jim Crow Redux: The New Restrictions on Voting Access—Jim Crow Redux

Image description: a black and white photo of a film reel, repeating an image of a hand placing a ballot in a voting box. Towards the bottom of the frame, bold white text says, “History has a way of repeating itself.” The blue, red, and purple Siste…

Image description: a black and white photo of a film reel, repeating an image of a hand placing a ballot in a voting box. Towards the bottom of the frame, bold white text says, “History has a way of repeating itself.” The blue, red, and purple Sister District NYC logo is at the bottom.

By Marylin Silverman

History has a way of repeating itself.  In the face of the Democratic victories in 2020, Republican legislators have set about proposing new laws to restrict voting and hopefully change the political landscape to benefit the Republican party. These measures come at the expense of voting access for Black, brown, disabled, and other marginalized communities, effectively creating a new Jim Crow.   

In a backlash to historic voter turnout and the pretense of voter fraud, Republican state lawmakers have introduced a startling number of bills to restrict the vote. As of the 3rd week of March 2021, some 361 bills were introduced with restrictive provisions in 47 states…a 43% increase over February numbers. 

Some states are introducing these laws more furiously than others.  Here’s what it looks like in some of the states that Sister District is supporting: 

Texas

Lawmakers in Texas have introduced the largest number of voter restriction laws (49) of all of the states.  Texas is already considered one of the most difficult states for casting a ballot. 

TX SB 7 was approved by lawmakers on April 1st.  This bill will limit voting by: 

  • Prohibiting unsolicited mail ballot applications to voters

  • Restricting unmanned drop boxes

  • Limiting early voting hours

  •  Eliminating the use of certain mobile and drive through polling places

  •  Changing the allocation of polling places and election equipment

  • Increasing voter roll purges

  • Penalizing voters with disabilities by reducing access

  • Placing more restrictions on voter assistance

  • Reducing protections against voter intimidation

Georgia 

Georgia is the state with the second largest number of restrictive laws (25) in the country.  Their bill, SB 202, was passed at the end of March.  It is called the Election Integrity Act of 2021. Some of the ways the bill restricts voting rights are listed below:

  • Limiting drop boxes

  • Stripping the secretary of state of some of his regulatory authority (remember, Georgia’s secretary of state refused to falsify ballots in favor of Donald Trump)

  • Imposing new oversight on county election boards

  • Restricting who can vote with provisional ballots

  • Making it a crime to offer food or water to voters waiting in line 

 

Arizona 

Arizona lawmakers introduced the 3rd largest number (23) of restrictive laws. Unlike most of the rest of the country, mail voting in Arizona is extremely popular (88% of votes cast in 2020 pre-pandemic).  For this reason, many of the bills have mail-in voting as a focus for potential restrictions.

Senate Bill 1485

  • Purge voter roles for failing to vote in previous elections

  • Add more voter ID to mail-in ballots

Senate Bill 1593

  • Shorten the window to get and return ballots 

Each of these bills targets different state minorities that voted for Biden in 2020. Fortunately, Sister District is fighting back. Check out our State Bridges events (link opens in new window), which are raising money for Texas Organizing Project, Florida Rising, and Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA). More partners will be announced soon!

Danielle Dowler