Allegations of Voter Suppression Persist as Early Voting Explodes

In the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election, early voting and mail-in voting has been expanded due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent health risks associated with in-person voting on Election Day. Americans across the country have been utilizing early voting in record numbers in order to ensure their vote is counted in the November 3 election. According to The Washington Post, at least 31.4 million citizens have already cast their ballot, with two weeks left until the election.

However, as early ballots are being cast, questions of voter suppression have risen. Currently, there are over 300 lawsuits in 44 different states regarding absentee ballots, who qualifies for early voting, and the collection of early votes. The most obvious example of voter suppression has been the incredibly long waits some voters are experiencing in order to cast their ballots. Social media has been a powerful outlet used by voters to showcase the waits they are enduring to cast their vote. In Georgia, voters have had to wait up to eight hours to exercise their civic duty. In Marietta, Georgia, Everlean Rutherford tweeted her experience voting from the time of arrival at her polling place until she actually cast her vote. During her hours long wait, Rutherford wrote on Twitter, “Yeah this is voter suppression. It should never take this long to vote. Especially early voting.” Rutherford finally cast her vote for president after waiting 9 hours and 39 minutes in line.

Historically, trends of voter suppression have typically impacted minority voters at a greater extent than black voters. According to a 2017 study by the University of Pennsylvania’s Stephen Pettigrew, nonwhite voters are seven times more likely to wait in line for more than an hour to cast their vote. A link can be seen in the number of voting locations in particular communities which vary by state.

In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order limiting ballot drop box locations to one per county. This includes Harris County which has a population of 4.7 million people and contains Texas’s largest city of Houston. Certainly, restricting access to ballot boxes in this manner is not akin to encouraging the vote.

In both Georgia and Texas, Republican senators face stiff challenges from Democratic candidates. In Georgia, polls show Sen. David Perdue (R) nearly tied with democratic challenger Jon Ossoff. Sen. Perdue recently made headlines for mocking the pronunciation of Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris’s name. Additionally, Georgia is holding a special election for their other Senate seat, in which Democrat Raphael Warnock is currently leading in the polls. In Texas, M.J. Hegar is making a strong bid against longtime Republican incumbent, Sen. John Cornyn.

The world has weighed in on the challenges American voters have been facing. On Twitter, a Canadian wrote, “I’ve waited longer for a bus than I have ever waited to vote.” Meanwhile, a British man wrote, “Dear USA, I’m 58 and not once in my life have I had to queue to vote. Sort it out!”

Voters are outlasting the long waits in order to cast their ballot, in an election in which many Americans consider to be imperative in determining the future of the United States.