In almost every state in America, some elected officials are trying to make it harder for you to vote.

Is voting in your state a walk in the park? Or an uphill climb? Select your state to see where it ranks, and what might change before the next election.

https://www.headcount.org/save-the-vote/

Voter ID laws “target African Americans with almost surgical precision.” That’s not us saying so — those words come from a Federal court. We all know election laws have targeted or disproportionately impacted non-white voters for more than two centuries.


Black Enterprise's Second Town Hall To Focus On Voting Rights

LET’S BREAK IT DOWN

234 years after the Constitution gave only white land owners the right to vote, states are still passing laws that keep non-white people from voting. You don’t have to look far to see it happening all around us.

  • If you’re Black, there’s a 1 in 4 chance you don’t have a current government issued photo ID, (if you’re white,  it’s 1 in 12).
  • On average, voters in predominantly Black neighborhoods wait three times as long to vote.
  • If you live in a county with a history of racial discimination, your neighbors are getting purged from the voter rolls at a 40% higher rate.
  • On top of all that, 6.2% of eligible Black voters and 2% of Latinx voters are unable to vote due to a felony conviction.

How is this still happening? Well, it never stopped, but it got a lot worse in 2013 when the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act. That opened the door for the states with the worst history of racial discrimination to do pretty much whatever they pleased. Then came the rollbacks of early and mail-in voting, the closure of community polling sites and states being able to take over local election boards.

When lawmakers take power away from one of us, they take power away from all of us. Make some noise and tell your state reps to pass laws that lift up the voices of all voters!

To learn more, check out some great resources to learn more about racisim, discrimination and voting rights: 

LGBTQ+ Voting Rights

You know all the things that make voting hard? Well if you’re part of the LGBTQ+ community, you probably know it firsthand.  Higher rates of incarceration, youth homelessness, difficulty getting proper ID, systemic racism — all these things hit home. That’s why we need to speak out.

If you’re part of the LGBTQ+ community, or someone you love is, then you know a thing or two about facing hardships and hatred. But do you likely know a thing or two about how that shows up at the voting booth?

  • Voter ID laws, alongside restrictive ID requirements for updating legal name and gender marker, create barriers for transgender and non-binary voters.
  • 40% of homeless youth are LGBTQ+, impacting their ability to register to vote without a home address.
  • LGBTQ+ people are three times as likely to be incarcerated as the general population (if you have been convicted of a felony, you may be barred from voting in your state).
  • If you’re among the 30.8% of Black LGBTQ+ people living in poverty, taking the time off work or getting ID can be a huge hurdle.

Make some noise for change to break down these barriers. Contact your reps today!

To learn more about LGBTQ+ voting rights, check out a few great resources: