News

This Week in Voter Suppression June 22 – 28

By Chris deLaubenfels, Director of Policy and Communications, Let America Vote

SCOTUS on Gerrymandering: Not My Problem

In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court held that partisan gerrymandering is nonjusticiable. What does nonjusticiable mean? Basically that even if a gerrymander violates citizens’ constitutional rights (it does) it is not the role of the courts to police it (it should be). But don’t worry, Chief Justice John Roberts feels your pain and does not “condone[] excessive partisan gerrymandering nor condemn[] complaints about districting to echo into a void.” Whether or not Justice Roberts condones extreme partisan gerrymandering, Americans will have their vote suppressed and be forced to vote under unfair maps. 

In her fire dissent, Justice Elena Kagan called out the conservative majority’s undemocratic holding: “The partisan gerrymanders in these cases deprived citizens of the most fundamental of their constitutional rights: the rights to participate equally in the political process, to join with others to advance political beliefs, and to choose their political representatives.” 

It is hard to overstate how bad this decision is for American democracy. First, Americans will be forced to vote under unconstitutional maps in 2020. Then, when Republican-led states begin redistricting in 2021, there will be zero judicial check on their extreme partisan gerrymandering. Moreover, while racial gerrymandering is technically still unconstitutional, Republican officials can just say that they gerrymandered on a partisan basis, not a racial basis, to get away with disenfranchising voters. 

Our work to fight for fair maps continues. We need to fight for independent redistricting commissions in every state. We need to fight for the For the People Act (H.R. 1), which bans partisan gerrymandering. And we need to vote out any politician that supports gerrymandering.

SCOTUS on the Census Citizenship Question: Come Back with a Better Excuse

In better news, the Supreme Court blocked the citizenship question from going on the 2020 census, for now. The decision gives the Trump administration an opportunity to come up with a better reason–other than the real racist, pro-Republican reason or the contrived concern about Voting Rights Act enforcement reason–to justify the citizenship question. This is good news for now, but after the Supreme Court decision, President Trump very calmly took to Twitter to float the idea of delaying the 2020 Census altogether. The U.S. Constitution requires that the census takes place every 10 years. 

Six Years After Shelby 

Tuesday, June 25, 2019, marked the sixth anniversary of the Supreme Court gutting the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County v. Holder. In Shelby County, the Supreme Court swept away a key provision of the VRA that required states with a history of discrimination to pre-clear voting law changes with the U.S. Department of Justice. After Shelby County, states across the South passed voter suppression laws. 

The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the Voting Rights Act on the anniversary of Shelby County. Voting rights advocates Stacey Abrams (Founder of Fair Fight and a member of the Board of Advisors of Let America Vote), Leah Aden (Deputy Director of Litigation at NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund), and Kristen Clark (President and Executive Director at Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law) argued for restoring the VRA to its pre-Shelby power.

Pres. Trump Back on His Voter Fraud Lies

In an interview with NBC, Pres. Trump renewed his old lie that voter fraud is why he lost the popular vote. Just a reminder, widespread voter fraud is an absolute myth!

Some Good News in Voting Rights

Hawaii became the fourth state to adopt universal vote-by-mail! Vote-by-mail will greatly improve access to the ballot for Hawaii voters.

Pennsylvania Democratic lawmakers are aggressively pursuing legislation that would make elections fairer, more accessible, and more secure.