“Arguably, in some ways, we are more restricted on the right to vote than we had the day after the Voting Rights Act was signed into law in 1965. It has weakened from then till now,” warned Cliff Albright, co-founder and executive director of the grassroots organization Black Voters Matter.
The organization, which focuses its work on the nine core states of Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, Michigan and Pennsylvania, warned that the 2024 election laws are largely more restrictive than in 2020.
From October 2022 to 2023, at least 881 laws were implemented in state legislatures to interfere with elections or restrict voting rights. While 2020 was a watershed moment for improving voter access through absentee voting, at least 11 new laws enacted in 2023 curtailed its use.
Some recently enacted legislative initiatives allow state interference in elections including Texas SB 1, which empowers local officials to directly intervene in elections held in Harris County, one of the most diverse counties in that part of the country.
Although some states have also adopted broad election laws that make it easier to vote by mail, to register to exercise to vote and to do so early, such as Oregon and New York, which are led by Democrats.
On the other hand, “the threat of misinformation and disinformation is real,” said Juan Gilbert, a computer scientist and member of the National Academies Committee on the Future of Voting.
“We saw it in 2020 and I assure that it will probably be the biggest concern in 2024,” Gilbert stressed.
57% of Americans ages 18 to 34 say they are very likely to vote on Nov. 5, according to data from a November survey by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.
But at the same time, disillusionment with the Joe Biden administration’s funding of Israel’s genocide in Gaza could prompt abstention among a percentage of young voters, the digital media outlet warned.
For Albright, political pundits should be careful not to underestimate discomfort many young and black voters have with Biden’s support for Israel.
pll/oda/dfm
