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The last few days have not been great for voting rights in America. I'm sorry to start a newsletter like this. I waited to write this so I could speak to my friends and colleagues in this space, hoping that I was being paranoid or misunderstanding the facts or... something. Anything. But I'm not, and I think it's important that you know what's going on.
First, in Wisconsin, federal judges reinstated limits on early voting to two weeks, rather than the several weeks that have become the norm in Milwaukee and Madison. They also banned the practice of emailing or faxing absentee ballots, making it more difficult for people without steady addresses to receive a ballot. They also reversed a lower court's decision to make it slightly easier to vote without an ID.
In Florida, after a huge victory in which a lower court gave returning citizens the right to vote even if they had certain kinds of fines and fees, a federal appellate court stayed that ruling to hear Governor DeSantis' appeal. So, yet again, returning citizens have to wait to find out if they have to pay a poll tax to vote. Adding insult to injury, the hearing has been set for August 18th- the day of Florida's primary election.
Even worse, the Supreme Court made two incredibly challenging decisions on Thursday. In one, they approved Alabama's new law that to vote absentee a voter must not only mail a paper copy of their ID with their absentee ballot (this is also the rule in Wisconsin and other states), but that when they mail in their ballot it must either be notarized or signed by two witnesses. This would be a challenge during normal times but, during a global pandemic, will be almost impossible- or dangerous- for many.
In a second ruling, the Supreme Court decided not to rule. This will allow Texas to continue to bar anyone under 65 from voting absentee unless they fit a few narrow parameters.
Worst of all, with these decisions the Supreme Court is effectively telling states that there is very little by way of voter suppression that they are willing to regulate. We are absolutely going to see repercussions of this in the coming weeks and months.
This is scary.
It should be. But, for me, it's also galvanizing. One of the good things about being a Black woman is that we're always on the bottom of the ladder knowing that we have to climb twice as high to reach equal ground. That has never stopped me before and it won't stop me now.
At Spread The Vote, and so many of our partner organizations, these decisions only lit an even bigger fire under us. I spent my July 4th watching my traditional John Adams marathon and strategizing how we are going to GET OUT THE MOTHERFING VOTE this November come hell or high water.
- We're working on major campaigns like helping inmates in hundreds of jails across the country vote with our Vote By Mail in Jail project with vote.org.
- We are completely re-working our incredibly successful, grassroots, person-to-person voter education and GOTV program to work not only for our own current and former clients (only 1% of whom have regular access to a phone) but for as many people as we can reach across the country.
- We are planning a second Volunteer Virtual Summit because we have had hundreds of people sign up to volunteer since our last Summit in June.
- We are building new kinds of partnerships, programs, and work arounds to safely help people get IDs in all of our states.
And that's just the beginning. For every new suppressive law, we will build a new solution. For every attempt to block our votes, we will stay up later. For every blatant effort to steal this election by stopping every. single. American. from voting, we will work harder than we ever have to make sure that everyone, regardless of income, race, gender, or even political belief, can and will have their voice heard at the polls. That is their right, and that is my commitment.
If you're reading this, I know you're with us. I hope you'll jump into this fight with both feet, because we need you. We need you to volunteer. We need you to donate. We need you to do what you can to make sure that every one of your friends and family members votes this year.
We see the battlefield now, and we know the score. We win.
Kat
Founder, Spread The Vote
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