Voting confusion in California, Georgia, as election approaches
Georgia continues to struggle with long lines and labored voting for BIPOC, while the California GOP placed unofficial ballot boxes in some Californian communities, and youth voter turnout continues to struggle to increase.
Olivia Cunningham / Asst. News Editor
The validity, freedom, and transparency of American elections are trademarks of the U.S.’s position as a pinnacle of democracy, followed by a peaceful transfer of power. However, voter suppression issues have continually affected U.S. elections.
From suppression tactics used during the Jim Crow Era by legislators in the South, to the issues of long lines and lack of access to reasonable voting opportunities in Georgia’s 2018 elections, access to the vote for marginalized communities continues to be inconsistent at best, and purposeful and negligent at worst.
Controversies continue to swirl around voting and the upcoming election, with confusion mounting as Nov. 3 approaches. Pro-Trump conservatives have questioned the validity of mail-in or absentee voting, while Democrats denounce this rhetoric and push for more investigations into alleged voter suppression in California, Georgia, and other states, raising similar concerns to those of 2018.
Confusion and distrust of mail-in voting, the U.S. Postal Service, and election security in general has caused a large rift between Republicans and Democrats, which came to a head on Oct. 12 as an issue between Californian officials and the California GOP emerged.
According to the Washington Post, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra sent a cease and desist order on Oct. 12 to the California GOP on the account of unauthorized “ballot boxes” being set up in Californian communities. These unofficial “official” boxes were promoted by Republican political actors and related social media accounts.
Both aforementioned Democratic officials criticized the implementation of these ballot boxes as undermining the security and fairness of the election, because some of these boxes were marked as “official,” although they were not.
The state has backed off threats of legal action according to NPR, after the GOP committed to not labeling these boxes as “official,” among other tweaks to ensure that no confusion occurs for the voter.
Meanwhile, BIPOC Americans in Georgia face longer voting lines than white Georgians, as reported by NPR as well, echoing the fears of 2018.
As cities continue to grow in population and complexity, the ratio of registered voters to polling locations has become skewed. Polling places in Georgia have been cut in many communities, yet BIPOC communities disproportionately have been affected most by these cutbacks. Issues with voting in Black and other non-white communities echo other blatant issues with voter suppression, especially with Georgia elections becoming less and less red.
Younger voters, and voters in general, are turning out with record numbers across the country, as more mail-in ballots and early votes have been cast due to the pandemic. Yet, these developments make the issue of access immediate and pressing, as early voters continue to wait anywhere from five to 11 hours to vote, making it a taxing, inefficient ordeal.
The bureaucracy and inaccessibility of voting seems to be the issue, as pointed out by USD professor of political science, Casey Dominguez, Ph.D. in a recent Fortune article.
“…Voting is a civic practice that we need to learn. We need to learn how to register to vote, and how to fill out and cast a ballot,” Dominguez said. “We need to learn to distinguish the different offices on the ballot and the candidates running for them.”
Education and awareness is paramount to the increase in youth voter turnout. Citizens under 30 need to develop habits and skills related to voting as a civic duty that older Americans already have built into their daily lives as consistent voters. Increasing voting literacy, registration, and turnout is crucial for higher education institutions to continue to work on, especially in a bipartisan manner, so all can be correctly informed.
The tides might be changing regarding voter turnout percentages as about 51 million American voters have already casted their ballots about ten days before Election Day, as reported by Vice. This number supersedes the entire early vote count from the 2016 election, but the coronavirus and its challenges might account for the increase in mail-in ballots. Although votes cast at polling places have yet to be counted, these mail-in ballots reportedly favor Democrats and if youth turnout increases, this would favor the Democrats as well.
However, bipartisan, objective information is paramount in voting literacy. USD Votes, the club at USD devoted to accurate and nonpartisan voting and voting information, is advised by Dominguez and led by multiple students as a guide to USD students and community members on issues related to voting. Their carefully curated Instagram, @usdvotescampaign, (and the website in its bio), seek to assist members of the USD community in times like these.
Vivian Mateos Zuniga, Vice President of USD Votes, commented, “As an organization, we work hard to ensure that the eligible voters in our USD community feel prepared when it’s time to vote. We provide accessible information and one central hub where people can get their questions answered. By doing this work, we try to lower the information barrier and make our USD voters feel ready to do their civic duty.”
As these student and faculty leaders continue to set examples for how to engage with civic duties, staying informed, staying healthy, and encouraging friends and family to vote is the best way to have a hand in the safety and validity of the upcoming election. Resources for voting, registration, etc., can be found at the USD Votes Instagram account above.