usts of Cesar Chavez, Rosa Parks, Eleanor Roosevelt, and sculpture by Native American artist Allan Houser adorn President Joe Biden’s newly-renovated version of the Oval Office. It is a fitting microcosm of segments of the Democratic base that led him to victory: Hispanic and African Americans, women, and indigenous voters, among others.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 extended African Americans the right to vote and ensured protections to groups facing ballot discrimination. The civil-rights era law staved off the worst of legislative voter suppression attempts before it was gutted by the Supreme Court in 2013. The controversial ruling has since emboldened voter-security advocates and led to the closure of over one thousand polling locations across the country.
As Biden begins his term, he represents not only an American public ravaged by the coronavirus and political division, but the hopes and hardships of the voters who rallied behind him — many of whom were nearly kept from the ballot box by current voting laws.
Democratic control of both houses of Congress was delivered to Biden by twin victories in Georgia’s Senate races, which elected a Black Senator for the first time amid record-high turnout. The state’s runoff system has historical ties to Jim Crow voting laws and was the subject of fierce litigation from both sides.
Similarly, Biden’s narrow victory of 16,000 votes in swing-state Arizona was in no small part carried on the backs of Native American voters, many of whom rode 10 miles on horseback to reach distant polling stations and face language and address barriers to casting ballots.
Furthermore, cities with large non-white populations such as Detroit and Philadelphia also became central to unsubstantiated claims of electoral illegitimacy by the Trump campaign.
While the United States’ elections have never suffered actual widespread voter fraud, a small group of US lawyers pushed election integrity concerns, bringing dozens of lawsuits over election rules since 2012 and helping make fears about election integrity mainstream. The popular politicization resulted in harsher voter ID laws and the purging of voter rolls.
In the wake of Biden’s victory, harsher election laws are being proposed and legislated in court by state parties, with the enfranchisement of millions of Americans — and countless electoral victories — hanging in the balance.
The United Nations and World Economic Forum have long used universal suffrage — the eligibility and ease of ballot access for all citizens — as an indicator for the strength of democracies. While the United States is often considered one of the world’s strongest and oldest democratic regimes, it has never been a trailblazer in extending suffrage.
At a time when the world is experiencing democratic backslide, the Economist’s Intelligence Unit global ranking has demoted the US from its position from a “full democracy” to a “flawed democracy” primarily due to increasing distrust in government institutions. With claims of electoral fraud culminating in January 2021’s political violence, the US is poised to fall further.
Amid such controversy, Biden’s promise of a new voting rights act is essential to America’s future definition of free and fair elections.
A new voting rights act has notable support along party lines in Congress. The For the People Act passed the House of Representatives in 2019 and may now be passed in the newly-Democratic controlled Senate. Democrats have said the bill is top priority. Similarly, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act — which expired in the Republican-controlled Senate — may now be up for passage.
However, Democrats face a right-leaning judiciary culminating in the most conservative Supreme Court in decades. While the 2013 ruling encouraged Congress to rewrite the law, the new provision will likely face tough scrutiny and possible defeat for years to come.
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What Joe Biden's Election Means For Voting Rights
February 3, 2021
Joe Biden's electoral victory was largely thanks to votes from groups that are threatened by legislative voter suppression. Can a new Voting Rights Act protect the franchise?
B
usts of Cesar Chavez, Rosa Parks, Eleanor Roosevelt, and sculpture by Native American artist Allan Houser adorn President Joe Biden’s newly-renovated version of the Oval Office. It is a fitting microcosm of segments of the Democratic base that led him to victory: Hispanic and African Americans, women, and indigenous voters, among others.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 extended African Americans the right to vote and ensured protections to groups facing ballot discrimination. The civil-rights era law staved off the worst of legislative voter suppression attempts before it was gutted by the Supreme Court in 2013. The controversial ruling has since emboldened voter-security advocates and led to the closure of over one thousand polling locations across the country.
As Biden begins his term, he represents not only an American public ravaged by the coronavirus and political division, but the hopes and hardships of the voters who rallied behind him — many of whom were nearly kept from the ballot box by current voting laws.
Democratic control of both houses of Congress was delivered to Biden by twin victories in Georgia’s Senate races, which elected a Black Senator for the first time amid record-high turnout. The state’s runoff system has historical ties to Jim Crow voting laws and was the subject of fierce litigation from both sides.
Similarly, Biden’s narrow victory of 16,000 votes in swing-state Arizona was in no small part carried on the backs of Native American voters, many of whom rode 10 miles on horseback to reach distant polling stations and face language and address barriers to casting ballots.
Furthermore, cities with large non-white populations such as Detroit and Philadelphia also became central to unsubstantiated claims of electoral illegitimacy by the Trump campaign.
While the United States’ elections have never suffered actual widespread voter fraud, a small group of US lawyers pushed election integrity concerns, bringing dozens of lawsuits over election rules since 2012 and helping make fears about election integrity mainstream. The popular politicization resulted in harsher voter ID laws and the purging of voter rolls.
In the wake of Biden’s victory, harsher election laws are being proposed and legislated in court by state parties, with the enfranchisement of millions of Americans — and countless electoral victories — hanging in the balance.
The United Nations and World Economic Forum have long used universal suffrage — the eligibility and ease of ballot access for all citizens — as an indicator for the strength of democracies. While the United States is often considered one of the world’s strongest and oldest democratic regimes, it has never been a trailblazer in extending suffrage.
At a time when the world is experiencing democratic backslide, the Economist’s Intelligence Unit global ranking has demoted the US from its position from a “full democracy” to a “flawed democracy” primarily due to increasing distrust in government institutions. With claims of electoral fraud culminating in January 2021’s political violence, the US is poised to fall further.
Amid such controversy, Biden’s promise of a new voting rights act is essential to America’s future definition of free and fair elections.
A new voting rights act has notable support along party lines in Congress. The For the People Act passed the House of Representatives in 2019 and may now be passed in the newly-Democratic controlled Senate. Democrats have said the bill is top priority. Similarly, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act — which expired in the Republican-controlled Senate — may now be up for passage.
However, Democrats face a right-leaning judiciary culminating in the most conservative Supreme Court in decades. While the 2013 ruling encouraged Congress to rewrite the law, the new provision will likely face tough scrutiny and possible defeat for years to come.
