The blue wave is coming for you, threaten Democrats, and exhortations to vote are all over social media. You can’t open Twitter without seeing a user name changed to “VOTE NOVEMBER 6” or “REGISTER TO VOTE,” or peek at you Facebook timeline without a full frontal assault of reminders to VOTE VOTE VOTE, with progressives across the country banding up to push the message that it’s critical to participate in what could be a cornerstone election.
While they aren’t wrong, their efforts feel a bit misguided at times. Voting is great, and everyone who is able to should absolutely do so, but therein lies the rub. Everyone who is able to. Many white progressives in the United States fall into the trap of assuming that the lives of others are like their own, rather than considering the fact that some people may be unable to vote, while others do not have a willingness to, for a variety of reasons. The response to those who don’t wish to participate is often to deride them, rather than engaging with the concerns that make them reluctant voters.
And this skirts a larger issue as people start to approach the polls: The question of who votes isn’t as simple as who fills out an absentee ballot or who makes it to the polling place on time, but who is allowed to. Voter suppression in the United States has turned what should be a right into a complex and labyrinthine process that is confusing and intimidating by design.
Voting restrictions absolutely affect election outcomes, with evidence suggesting they disproportionately favor Republicans. How, in the face of this information, can Americans continue to insist that the responsibility for losing elections falls on the shoulders of those who were unable to participate in them? In the weeks leading up to the election, we saw numerous instances of clearly biased activity, including attempts at illegally purging voters, discarding ballots, and blocking electoral participation on the part of Native Americans. And in most states, it’s perfectly legal to deny felons the right to vote, and to extend such prohibitions long after they’ve served their time.
For groups targeted by voter suppression, being able to vote is a triumph over adversity. They should be celebrated for it, instead of turning out to the polls as best they can only to be punished when a favored progressive candidate loses despite their best efforts. Yet, in 2016, we saw Black voters blamed for “failing to turn out for Hillary,” even though statistics clearly belied this claim. Some expressed frustration with being expected to “save” white voters from their own folly, and it was a valid frustration, backed by years of experience with voter suppression, harassment, and other barriers to electoral participation.
If the blue wave succeeds, it will not be “despite” unmotivated voters. It will be because against all odds, people targeted by voter suppression and intimidation managed to turn out in sufficient numbers to sway an election. Early voting numbers suggest people are fighting hard to vote and be counted, with turnout up in a number of states, including turnout among historically marginalized voters. We won’t know the full story until tonight and the coming days, though, and if the blue wave fails to materialize, it won’t be because people didn’t try.
If it does, it should be evidence that the left needs to try harder to secure voting rights, to equalize the scales before 2020, when a contentious presidential election could make a huge difference for the future of the country, and the world. It’s imperative that everyone be able to participate, not just those with privilege.
Failure to win will be because Republicans have been trying, very successfully, for decades, to rig elections, and their efforts are finally bearing fruit. For them, this election is a test of tactics that have been a long time in the making, and if they’ve managed to calculate their work correctly, they’re hoping to use this moment to blast Democratic hopes and create a sense of inevitability around their hegemonic control of politics. If it succeeds, it will be evidence that voter suppression is working, but it doesn’t have to be this way, if the left is willing to take it on.
Photo: Mike Licht