Since the sweeping Republican win in 2016, many states heavily aligned with the party have enacted laws which actively suppress the votes of those who they presume would have voted for the Democratic party. The laws mostly affect low-income voters and voters of color, who statistically vote Democratic; however, recent laws have been targeting college-age and student voters, a third group who have statistically aligned with the left since the election of President Donald Trump.
A study done by the Institute of Politics at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government concluded that 45 percent of college students aged 18 to 24 identified as Democrats, while 24 percent identified as Republicans (29 percent identified as Independents). Further, Statista exit polls from the 2016 presidential election show that 53 of voters aged 18 to 24 voted for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, and 35 percent voted for President Trump.
A common practice used by Republican state and local legislators to suppress the vote of college students is to restrict the use of a student ID as valid identification for voting. Laws implementing this restriction exist in North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin, four states which consistently vote Republican.
Laws dealing with the use of a student ID as proper identification often require students to obtain a second ID in order to vote, which can cost hundreds of dollars. Other laws do not let students use their student ID at all. This can be particularly consequential for those who do not have a driver's license, passport, or other form of official government identification. Republicans are explicitly attempting to and succeeding in making sure that college students do not have the same right to vote as other citizens.
What’s scarier than the fact that these laws exist is the fact that some are often hidden. Texas state legislators have enacted laws which prohibit early polling places that do not stay open for the entire early voting period; this affects multiple college campuses throughout the state and restricts the vote of thousands of college students.
Simply stated, the evidence proves that Republican legislators at the state level are trying to suppress the votes of college-age students. While state laws don’t explicitly suppress the voting rights of students, they implicitly intend to, and this is a terrifying precedent for state legislators to set.
Voter suppression laws are not new; in its long and winding history, America has seen multiple laws at the federal, state, and local level which restrict the vote of low-income voters and voters of color. There have been federal laws, such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which outlaw the obstacles set in place for Southern voters of color.
However, no laws exist to combat the suppression of voters based on age (sans the 26 Amendment, which simply grants citizens over the age of 18 to vote, but does not address obstacles similar to those which had been restricting voters of color).
It is important to be aware of voter suppression laws, even if you are lucky enough to be mostly unaffected by them, because they threaten the very democracy and freedoms that this country is founded upon.
With certain groups being essentially prohibited in partaking in the free elections that America prides itself on holding, the politicians who represent us on the local, state, and federal level no longer represent the whole voting population; they represent the privileged elite who create the laws and are able to bypass suppression tactics.
How can America be viewed as the leader of the free world, spreading democracy globally, if the leaders are constantly working to ensure that not everyone has the same say in elections.
Here is where the work of former Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams comes in. Her organization, Fair Fight, works to dismantle voter restriction practices both in Georgia and nationwide. The end of the suppression of voters of color and young voters are the priorities of Fair Fight, which are two of the demographic groups most at-risk of losing their right to vote freely and fairly.
If you are passionate about voter suppression, voting rights, and fair elections, I recommend learning more about Fair Fight (and, if you are able, donating to the organization) so we can create a more civil democracy.