In an age when newspapers rail against the nearly 50% of voters who did not vote in the last election, you might think I’m crazy to ask voters to do even more than that. But voter apathy has two facets. One is a sense of smallness, a feeling that our individual stories are insignificant and too removed from whatever politicians are talking about. The other is indifference to the loss of others’ stories.
In Cuthbert, Georgia, for example, citizens were fuming over a proposal to close 7 out of 9 polling places in Randolph County. The county Board of Elections said it had to do with certain voting places being out of compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (“Randolph County: Board of Elections proposes closing a majority of polling places,” by Darian Aaron; WRBL.com, 8/16/18).
However, the ADA has been in effect since 1990 – that’s 28 years. All 7 of the proposed closings were located in predominantly black districts. Many of those citizens live in rural areas without a means to exercise their right to vote if the remaining 2 polling places are their only option.
Remember, if you will, that the race for Georgia’s governor this year is between a far-right white male Republican, Brian Kemp, and a progressive black female, Stacey Abrams. Suppressing the black vote has been essential to Republican wins in the south since the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
This case had a positive outcome. The Georgia Board of Elections immediately voted down the proposed closings in Randolph county. But all across the country, wherever there are predominantly black or Latino populations, white officials have been using their powers to suppress the vote.
Redistricting lines are drawn to gerrymander districts into white-dominant voters, requirements are added for picture IDs, the number of days for absentee ballots are shortened, students are no longer allowed to vote in the states where they go to college – on and on. This is how we end up with a government that represents only the white dominant point of view.
If you live where efforts have been put in place to suppress the vote, you might have several privileges you could offer. Is your skin white? Then add your voice to the voices of the black and brown citizens protesting the closing of their polling places or the last-minute addition of voter identification papers. It doesn’t matter which candidate you or they support. What matters is using the advantage of your white skin, the power that carries in our society, to augment the protest against this failure to protect the right to vote.
You might have a car. You might be able to hire a bus and pack lunches for people who want to exercise their right to vote.
You might have time – time to take people to polling places before or after work. Maybe you have time to look into mailed-in ballots and early voting to see other ways of helping people to vote. Use some of the time you have to protest voter suppression on behalf of those whose voices are being pushed to the margins.
If we don’t do these things, we will go on being a country mired in the tired perspectives of the white, male establishment. We will continue to elect people who keep pushing the country back into a time when only white males established the laws.
If we want to move forward and make progress on this process of being a 21st century democracy, we need to elect a diversity of people with a diversity of perspectives. If we want to catch up to where many European countries have brought their educational systems, health care systems, prison systems and so on, we need to believe in candidates who have a vision and talk about how we can move our democracy forward.
Remember the hundreds of disabled who protested loudly and publicly for days when congress tried to toss out “pre-existing conditions” and a host of other provisions covered by the Affordable Care Act? The sight of callous public officials dragging severely disabled people away from the halls of congress was as chilling as the sight of babies in immigrant detention centers.
A nation-wide network of disability advocates spends the month of July working on a voter registration campaign that specifically targets disabled voters. Educating the disabled population on accessible voting machines and voting materials for the visually impaired or the physically handicapped is part of the campaign.
The campaign also educates those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. They discuss what candidates have to say in general, and they focus intently on each candidate’s stance on programs and funding that support services for the disabled community (“Rev Up for National Disability Voter Registration week, July 16 – 20,” by
Empish J. Thomas; American Foundation for the Blind, 7/11/2018).
Are some of your privileges available for this work of ensuring that, when the votes are counted, the voices of the disabled community are heard? That might include time and transportation on voting day. It can also include working behind the scenes throughout the year to ensure that voting places in your area are compliant with ADA guidelines. Maybe you are a persuasive person who can educate the candidate of your choice about the potential power of the disability vote.
People today are taking this idea of representation more seriously than ever before. Women and minorities are running for state and federal office in historic numbers. The numbers of candidates who have never run for an elected position before is also historic, making the pool for these mid-term elections the most diverse, the most feminine and the youngest (“Mid-Term Elections 2018: Here Are The Candidates Who Can Make History in November,” by Alexandra Hutzler; Newsweek, 8/19/2018).
Even on the local level, people are paying much closer attention to representation of all of our stories. One of our local newspapers ran a feature article on a notable lack of diversity among candidates for Town Council. The article compared the white, older, male and wealthier status among the 34 candidates with the non-white, youthful and female demographics of our population (“Town Council candidates lack diversity,” by Dusty Christensen; Amherst Bulletin, 7/20/2018).
This component of the voting process is often overlooked. It’s not just about voting for someone with the most experience or the best-sounding agenda. It’s not always about voting along party lines. Sometimes we vote to add weight to the American ideal that we are all equal, and equally empowered to shape the laws of the country. Sometimes a vote for a candidate is also a vote pushing for better representation of all of our stories.
This was part of Obama’s story, as the first black President. Native Americans in Idaho who have had low voter turnout in the past are highly likely to get to the polls this fall to help elect the first Native American governor in the United States. Here at last is someone who can represent their story.
And then there’s you. When you vote, you are weaving your story into the fabric of our American life. Your family’s history and desires, your own dreams and accomplishments, your hopes for your children – they are all part of a story that your vote represents.
Do you have a sister with special needs? An uncle who is a veteran? A nephew who is gay? A neighborhood school with no music, art, or sports? A brother-in-law who is an immigrant? A daughter who is addicted or incarcerated? A parent or teenager who needs a job? Do you live in a food desert? Is your nearest health care facility miles away, or outside the grid of public transportation? Are you in an abusive relationship, or trying to buy a house, or changing careers, or afraid of upcoming health care expenses?
A thousand details from our daily lives come with us into the voting process. We ask our candidates to pay attention to all of those stories. When we go to hear candidates speak, when we read about their priorities, we are listening to see if they know us. Do they know our story? Will they pay attention to who we are? Will they take our stories into account in making decisions?
More importantly, will they treat our stories equally? Will they represent us: that is, will they stand in for each one of us, representing all of our stories? Or – will they select some stories they want to address and disregard the others? Are they even aware of the diversity of stories they are being elected to represent? Will they push the agenda of the privileged regardless of our stories?
In this election season, getting everyone’s story included is key. How difficult is it going to be for your story to be included in the laws and programs your representative is promoting? If your story is relatively easy to find there, look around to see if someone else’s story is not getting the same kind and quality of attention. Use the privilege of having a well-represented story to bring less well-represented priorities into focus.
