One Person,
No Vote, by Carol Anderson
Review by
Dave Gamrath
Book Review/Summary:
Following
the news, I knew the Republican party was attempting to restrict the vote of
those they deemed unlikely to vote for Republican candidates: minorities and the poor. I knew of many of these tactics, including
new requirements for voter ID, while at the same time closing many DMVs (licensing
agencies) in minority neighborhoods, making obtaining the now necessary ID
extremely difficult for residents. Also,
I knew there has been the closing of many voting precincts in low-income
neighborhoods, causing extensive wait times for poor and minority voters. There has also been a reduction of allowed early-voting
days. I’ve read about the gerrymandering
of voting districts to reconfigure voting boundaries to ensure Republican
control. I knew of these current
tactics. But I did not have an understanding of the extensive history of voter
suppression in the U.S., especially in the South. Anderson lays this out in her book, One
Person, No Vote. It is shocking and
disturbing.
Whereas
in the past it was commonly Democrats in the South that were engaging in voter
suppression, today it is Republicans doing the same, under the guise of false
pretenses, such as preventing non-existent voter fraud. They are implementing multiple tactics to
attack socioeconomic characteristics they deem unlikely will support
Republicans, such as poverty, lack of mobility, illiteracy, etc. They then label these new voting rules with
misleading racially neutral names, and act shocked and appalled when called out
for their true purpose. Purging of
likely Democrat voters from voting roles, in large numbers, has become a key
Republican strategy for winning. Sadly,
these tactics are working: minority
votes are being suppressed around the country, as shown in recent elections. The 2016 election saw a remarkable drop in
black voter turnout due to suppression.
These
types of tactics are actually more than 100 years old, with their roots in the
Deep South, to keep black people out of the voting booth. In 1890, the Mississippi Plan was enacted,
implementing poll taxes, literacy tests, understanding rules, new voter
registration rules and “good character” clauses, all in theory to bring
integrity to voting booths. These
tactics spread throughout the South. The
Poll Tax was cumulative year-over-year, and in today’s dollars easily reached required
payment of hundreds of dollars to be able to vote. Easy literacy and understanding tests were
given to whites, then ridiculously hard and subjective tests were given to
blacks, allowing the tester to fail 100% of black voter applicants. All-white primaries were introduced, since
Federal voting laws only applied to general elections, effectively eliminating
the chance of any minority candidates on the ballot. White intimidation and violence against
blacks attempting to vote was common, including lynching. In 1965 the Voting Rights Act was finally passed,
significantly reducing these shenanigans and increasing minority voter
turnout. But this Act was largely gutted
in 2013 by our right-leaning Supreme Court.
Now again we are seeing a rash of tactics aimed at suppression of
minority voters.
Reading
about this history causes shock and anger.
How could this be allowed? But our
history has many shocking examples of racism and hatred. For me, the bigger question is how can
similar laws and rules be allowed today?
Republicans clearly understand demographic trends and realize that
blocking certain groups from voting is a key tactic towards their keeping power
even when in the minority. Now the
Republican-majority Supreme Court backs Republican efforts to restrict voter
turnout. As described by Anderson,
Republicans clearly believe their future success depends on suppressing votes,
not increasing voter turnout. It’s
frustrating, and scary. And it’s
working:
Voter
suppression now exists in approximately two-thirds of states. It often begins with false information is
wildly spread by conservative voices such as FOX News, claiming that voter
fraud is rampant, when actually it’s extremely rare – studies show fraudulent
votes at one in millions. These lies are
just repeated until they become “common” knowledge. These suppression efforts are not slowing
down. Rather, more and more clever
tactics are being employed. Given
Trump’s willingness to falsely claim millions of illegal votes are going to
Democrats, and much of America being willing to (and wanting to) believe this
nonsense, this trend is only likely to get worse. Trump has shown extensive willingness to
support voter restriction.
Anderson
closes her book with a summary of resistance to these efforts. Multiple groups are fighting back. Efforts include getting the word out to local
voters as to what roadblocks exist and how to navigate them. Person-to-person contact works best, but is
also the most time and effort consuming.
All these efforts are expensive.
Even with extensive efforts, fighting back has been difficult and
resulted in only limited success.
Currently over seventy-seven million Americans are not on voter rolls,
and minorities are highly impacted. Anderson
states “in short, we are in trouble.”
Thirty-one states are now actively attempting to craft more effective
ways to restrict voting to their preferred constituents.
Anderson
provides extensive descriptions and details of the history of suppression, as
well as on-going and new suppression efforts.
This is not a long book. Yet it
contains extensive stories and data capturing our history and what we are up
against today. It’s an upsetting, but
necessary read. Pick it up: One Person, No Vote. The title says it all.
Reviewer Opinion:
Well
worth the read
Reviewer Rating of Book:
Thumb
up