Voting Rights
We are dedicated to ensuring that our elections remain free, fair and accessible and that you have the Freedom to Vote. Let us know what interests you!
Contact:
voterservicesvp@lwvdallas.org
We support election laws that facilitate citizen participation and voter convenience, as well as voting procedures
that may increase voter participation. 2023 Action Paper - Voting Rights
We fight to increase voters’ access to the polls, including expanding early voting and automatic and online voter registration.
Increased accessibility to the electoral process is integral to ensuring that every American can exercise their right to vote. Leagues across the United States work year-round to promote pro-voter reforms that both preserve our existing rights and provide flexibility for casting ballots in order to be inclusive of historically underserved communities.
While we have made progress in expanding voter access, many people still face disproportionate challenges to participate in elections due to factors including health, age, race, and gender. Our democracy is strongest when every voice is heard, which is why we strongly advocate for measures to make voting more accessible.
Automatic voter registration
Online voter registration
Multilingual voting resources
Extended polling hours
Mail-in voting
Early voting
Eliminated ballot notary and witness signature requirements
Extended registration deadlines
Expanded polling locations
Eliminated or relaxed ID requirements
Added protections for in-person voting
Pro-voter reforms have transformed our democracy and led to unprecedented voter turnout in the 2020 Election. But they are too often threatened by politicians and special interests who prioritize their own needs over an equal and fair democracy. When it comes to opposing these anti-voter efforts, the League is on the frontlines, advocating in state houses and in Congress, fighting anti-voter laws in court, and organizing activists to make their voices heard.
As we work to expand voter access, the League also empowers voters through VOTE411, a nonpartisan, ‘one-stop-shop' for all the election information you need to cast a ballot in every election – available in English and Spanish. From registration to voting rules and candidate guides, this award-winning website is your guide to making your voice heard in every election.
Voter suppression is any attempt to prevent or discourage certain Americans from registering to vote or casting their ballot. These measures often target specific groups based on race, ethnicity, political affiliation, age, or other aspects of voters’ identities.
The most widely used forms of voter suppression include discriminatory voter ID and proof-of-citizenship restrictions, reduced polling place hours in communities of color, the elimination of early voting opportunities, and illegal purges of voters from the rolls.
Historically, voter suppression has overwhelmingly targeted Black Americans. After the Civil War, Black men were able to participate in elections once the 15th Amendment to the US Constitution was adopted in 1870, which states:
“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
Voter suppression in southern states raged in the form of laws to prevent poor and Black voters from participating in elections. These laws, known as Jim Crow laws, included poll taxes and literacy tests. Many of these voter suppression strategies remained in place until the 1965 passage of the Voting Rights Act.
In 2013, the US Supreme Court removed key protections of the Voting Rights Act in the decision of Shelby v. Holder. Since then, a surge of anti-voter bills have swept across our nation– with many being legalized.
The League will not stand for this.
In response to an unprecedented number of voters (particularly Black and brown voters) participating in the 2020 election, and a historic, party-flipping Senatorial election, Georgian officials signed a bill, SB 202, into law that reduced the number of ballot boxes in communities of color, limited voting hours, added additional voter ID requirements, and made it illegal to provide those waiting in line with food or water, among other measures.
The provisions in SB 202 would not only eliminate Georgia’s growth in voter participation, but would take voting rights backward in the state, particularly for voters of color, who were directly targeted by the bill. The League of Women Voters of Georgia joined partners, including the Georgia NAACP and the Lower Muskogee Creek Tribe, in filing a lawsuit to prevent enforcement of the law.
In 2021, Texas legislators passed bills limiting citizens' capacity to vote and expanding protection for partisan “poll watchers.” Partisan poll watchers are volunteers deployed by major parties to observe the voting and vote counting processes. Many people consider the presence of poll watchers to be a form of voter intimidation.
In addition to granting poll watchers new access, protection, and power, the bills limited mail-in voting and early voting hours and restricted in-person voter assistance for people with disabilities or those requiring support in the voting process. The bills inspired half of Texas’s legislature to flee to DC to block their passage; despite efforts to block these provisions, the voter suppressing bills were signed into law.