There is very little that has the potential to surpass the greatest benefit of living in the United States of America. It is the right of a citizen of this great Nation to vote. It is what makes our Nation stand out among many nations, not just in our time today, but throughout ages past. One political party within our Nation has made a great effort to claim their right to declare that they are the only ones fighting for Democracy. Democracy is the process where all get an input into decisions being made, but our Nation is not a strict Democracy. “Democracy . . . is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation . . . , or to choose governing officials to do so. . .” (Wikipedia.) Our Nation is a Republic, a hybrid form of government that includes Democracy. Check out this definition from “legaldictionary.net”. “A republic is a form of government in which the citizens elect representatives, who make all of the decisions for them. This is different from a democracy, in which the people make their own decisions on important issues by voting. This form of government does not have a monarch, but an elected leader.” We may vote on issues and measures on ballots, and the democratic majority decides whether the issue is approved or denied. As a Republic, we elect representatives who make decisions on our behalf.
The method used to exercise our democracy, or to elect representatives to make decisions for us, is call voting. As mentioned earlier, we vote for ballot measures or issues, and we vote for representatives to make decisions for us, both on local and national levels. The right to vote is a sacred function in our Nation. In order to vote, one needs to be a legal citizen who has the right to make their voice (in written form) heard, because the outcome of the vote directly impacts each citizen within the scope of the issue being determined. Foreigners or visitors to our Nation have no say in the outcomes of these elections, because they are not here permanently, and are generally unaffected directly or permanently by the results of most elections.
Voting is both a privilege and a responsibility for each citizen of our Nation. Failure to vote diminishes the power of the people to make wise and reasoned choices affecting the majority. Failure to vote shows a lack of concern for our Nation, reflects apathy, shows detachment, and represents a casualness about our Nation’s affairs. Now for some, maybe they really don’t care what happens within our Nation, but we believe that most do, especially when the issue at hand directly impacts upon your life. We started this blog by reviewing the importance of voting because we want to show a number of ways that your ability to vote can be impaired, not because of your disinterest, but by methods outside your control. We want to list a few of them for your consideration. As we have said in previous blogs, we are sure you can add to the list we provide. We will show them in no particular order, as each person may be affected differently by each method of VOTER SUPPRESSION.
Years ago, it was customary for voting to occur on one day, and each individual had to go to their assigned poling location, prove their citizenship, and vote in person by a paper form of ballot. If you could not be there on that day, an alternate method was made available for them, or those out of town on business. This was called an “absentee ballot” and was either completed before the day of the voting, or through mail if out of town for an extended period of time. This applied to those in government or business service outside their voting location, or for those incapacitated and unable to access their poling location.
Then came along mail-in ballots, drop boxes, extended voting hours and days, and electronic voting and tabulating machines. This is when the poo poo hit the fan. Both political parties decried mail-in ballots due to the potential for anomalies or fraud. Nations throughout the world eschewed mail-in ballots for the same reason. Both political parties warned of voting machines that were hackable. Before long, the results of elections became not so much a matter of who voted, but who counted the votes. Any guess as to who first said that? It was the Soviet dictator, Joseph Stalin. His exact words as recorded by his secretary’s memoir were: “The people who cast the votes don’t decide an election, the people who count the votes do.” (Daily Kos, Oct. 21, 2020, Paulfrancisleysen.)
This has been a very long introduction into the many ways you can encounter VOTER SUPPRESSION. So, let’s get right down to it. Let us first talk about the influence of money. Money buys ads on radio and TV, and through mail-outs and the plethora of social media outlets. The application of this money also brings with it a form of “quid pro quo”, or to put it in terms most of us can understand, “I’ll scratch your back, if you in turn will scratch mine.” The more money spent; the more influence is exerted upon the average voter. Often, these ads spend more time digging up dirt on their opponent (called muckraking) than talking about what a candidate will do to benefit the voter. Unless you personally can verify what is being said, a measure of doubt will hang over your vote, and it could be enough to sway your vote one way or the other. This is a form of VOTER SUPPRESSION, causing you to be unsure, throwing a fogbank of suspicion upon your clarity of thought.
Another way VOTER SUPPRESSION can be applied to your vote is in the way and methods used to produce and publish voting polls. Sometimes the “cross-tabs” used in carrying out the poll are not revealed or ignored. Often, polls will weight contacts made to voters by favoring one party over another. Also, canvassing “all potential voters”, as opposed to those “voters who actually intend to vote”, can produce different results. As it is in all forms of media, those who conduct polls have personal bias and that can be reflected in the results of the poll. If a biased poll reflects negatively upon one candidate, it could cause a potential voter to declare, “Well, there is no way my one vote will make a difference, so I’ll just stay home and not vote.” If this has happened to you, then you have encountered VOTER SUPPRESSION by what is called a “SUPPRESSION pole”.
Certain states have allowed laws legally established by their legislatures to be circumnavigated by rogue governors, secretaries of state, or judges or justices. Our Nation’s constitution only allows state legislatures to establish those voting laws (Article 1, Section 4, and Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution of the United States of America). When unauthorized tampering of established laws take place, this becomes a form of VOTER SUPPRESSION. Those altered voting processes, dictated by those rogue actors, are often contrary to the established laws and procedures. This frustrates voters who believe in abiding by those established laws and procedures. If those voters are discouraged by these illegal actions, to the point of not voting, then they have succumbed to a form of VOTER SUPPRESSION.
The party in power can use its tyrannical processes to force agencies to confound opposing political parties through practices of intimidation, using threats, or even incarceration, to cause potential voters to stay silent or stay away from voting. This, too, is a form of VOTER SUPPRESSION.
When considering the applied force of government agencies upon individual voters, one has to consider individuals who carry out the directives of those in power who demand their obedience. Those who bear the responsibility to carry out those orders are often placed in a quandary. Should local and federal law enforcement personnel obey unjust orders and thereby avoid rebuke, suspension, or even termination? Too often police and federal agents bow to the almighty dollar and continued employment and carry out unjustified, political, and immoral orders against fellow citizens who are free within our Nation to conduct opposition to the illegal acts of those currently in power. (From The Declaration of Independance: “. . . whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it . . .”). The fear of being singled out by law enforcement, and potentially suffer the consequences of a tyrannical justice system, is also a form of VOTER SUPPRESSION.
Last on our short list, we will mention certain large corporations and elite organizations that often control and dictate terms for using your free speech. They do not control, nor can they ever dictate, our free speech. That was given to us by our Creator, not by our government, not by any corporation, and not by any self-appointed elite organization. We will not cower. We will not bend. We will not break. We will fight for our FREEDOM and LIBERTY. Do not sacrifice these rights upon the alter of VOTER SUPPRESSION.