Election 2020: Voter Suppression

Election 2020: Voter Suppression

picture credit: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2020

QUESTIONS TO KEEP IN MIND

• What does it mean to have a democracy on stolen land?

• What does it mean to have a democracy built on the backs of people who were enslaved? 

• ·What does it mean to have a democracy that financially benefits from those who are restricted from voting? For example, people with felony records or those living without citizenship status are still responsible for paying taxes and yet have no say in whom their elected officials are. 

“I question America. Is this America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, where we have to sleep with our telephones off the hooks because our lives be threatened daily, because we want to live as decent human beings, in America?”

-Fannie Lou Hammer, 1962 on the violence her community faced when attempting to vote

-Source: :Michals, Debra. “Fannie Lou Hamer.” National Women’s History Museum, 2017. Accessed October 22, 2020. 

Open Ended

Put yourself in Hammer’s shoes. How would it feel to face imprisonment or violence when you attempted to vote?

Open Ended

What are the impacts of voter suppression on democracy?

A HISTORY OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT

https://www.aclu.org/issues/voting-rights/voting-rights-act/history-voting-rights-act?redirect=node/4525

Open Ended

How does voter suppression impact you as an individual?

Open Ended

Voter fraud is a tactic often used to justify certain suppression efforts. What do you make of the motivations behind this?

Open Ended

You have to be 18 to vote. Do you think this is a form of voter suppression? If so, why?

Open Ended

What are the impacts of restrictions like felony records, citizenship status etc.? How do these restrictions impact individuals and communities?

Open Ended

How may we as a nation begin to repair the harm caused by voter suppression? How do we ensure an equitable process?

Open Ended

Imagine a world where voter suppression no longer exists.What does this world look like?

Open Ended

What other questions did this generate for you ? OR Share something that you learned.