AFRO NEWS: Early ballots cast as advocates warn of voter suppression and intimidation efforts
By Megan Sayles, AFRO — OCTOBER 26, 2024
Early voting is underway around the nation ahead of Election Day 2024, set for Nov. 5.
In Georgia, more than 1.9 million residents have already cast their ballots, representing more than a quarter of all voters in the Peach State. Martin Luther King III, son of the late civil rights leader, held an in-person early voting event on Oct. 21 in partnership with the Harris-Walz presidential campaign.
Although North Carolinians are still recovering from the destruction of Hurricane Helene, over 1 million of them have made it to the voting booth. In Nevada, 144,575 residents had voted as of Oct. 22.
The right to vote is one of the cornerstones of democracy, but Black Americans have been subjected to a long history of disenfranchisement. Tactics like literacy tests and poll taxes have given way to gerrymandering and restrictive voter identification laws. Modern attempts at voter suppression and intimidation make it even more important for individuals to know how to spot and fight unlawful practices.
“As much as it’s important to know the voting laws in your state, it’s also critical that voters know what protections are in place to safeguard their right to cast a ballot. There are federal voter protections in laws like the Voting Rights Act, the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act and the Uniformed Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act,” said Kiayna O’Neal, digital director at VoteRiders. “Each of these is meant to protect voters from things like discrimination and intimidation at the polls, being taken off of voter registration rolls, language difficulties and issues for overseas voters.”
Founded in 2012 as a direct response to the rise of stringent ID laws in the U.S., VoteRiders is a nonpartisan nonprofit that strives to ensure all citizens can exercise their right to vote. O’Neal warned that the existence of these federal protections does not mean that they are enforced and free from attack.
Read the full article at Afro.com.
