Guest Columnist

Excluded From the Polls

contributed by NWFCO

Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in Crawford v. Marion
County Election Board — the Indiana voter ID case.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, this case “will determine which
American citizens are able to exercise their right to vote and which
Americans are not.” They characterize Indiana’s law as “the most restrictive
ID law in America.”

We all know that voter ID laws serve one purpose and one purpose only: stop
people of color and low-income people from voting. But, really, it’s
race-neutral, so no problem.

It’s the same story with Washington state’s voter law, which has one of the
most expansive felony disenfranchisement provisions in the country. People
convicted of felonies can’t restore their voting rights until they’ve paid
off all the money they owe due to the conviction. For many of them, that’s
a lifetime struggle, even if it’s been years since they have served their
sentences. And, of course, felony status is a race by proxy.

According to the Washington state Supreme Court, the law doesn’t
discriminate on the basis of wealth, so no constitutional problem. Well,
what about race? In its review earlier this year, the court passed on
considering whether the law is racially discriminatory. So, it stands.

A lot is being made about how the current round of presidential elections’
evidences progress. Yet, reflecting on the New Hampshire primaries today in
the New York Times, Andrew Kohut of the Pew Research Center writes of “the
longstanding pattern of pre-election polls overstating support for Black
candidates among white voters.”

There can be little counterweight to this trend if voters of color remain
systematically excluded from the polls.

Julie Chinitz, Northwest Federation of Community Organizations(NWFCO) Research Associate

Posted at 11:58 AM, Jan 10, 2008 in Politics | Permalink | View Comments