YDS Statement on Election Protection

In America today, if you want to suppress the election-day turnout in communities of color, you don't need to burn a cross, institute a punitive literacy test or a hefty poll tax, or shoot off shotguns in the night. More subtle but equally insidious tactics are available, which -pioneered by the mainstream Right-wing- systematically and successfully deny people of color their hard won right to vote.

People of color seeking to register or vote are often discouraged by demands that they provide citizenship documentation or present paid-in-full utility bills, neither of which are mandated by law. In nearly 40 states, felons face onerous procedures to restore their voting rights, rather than the state immediately restoring their place as full citizens once they have served their term. As a result, literally 13 percent of all African American men lack the right to vote (according to the Commission on Civil Rights).

Race based targeting to suppress the collective voting power of communities of color is thriving in America. Here are some of the more recent glaring examples:

• FL, 2004: Elderly African American volunteers registering voters had armed Florida Department of Law Enforcement officers show up at their homes to question them about their activities.
• PA, 2003: Voters in African American neighborhoods were systematically challenged by men carrying clipboards, and driving a fleet of some 300 sedans with signs designed to look like law enforcement vehicles.
• LA, 2003: Flyers were posted in public housing projects which read "Vote!!! Bad Weather? No Problem!!! If the weather is uncomfortable on Election Day (Saturday Dec. 7th) Remember you can wait and cast your ballot on Tuesday Dec. 10th."
• MI, 2004: One of Bush’s Michigan advisors, State Rep. John Pappageorge (R-Troy) was quoted as saying "If we do not suppress the Detroit vote, we’re going to have a tough time in this election."
• KY, 2004: Despite protests from Black Republicans and many other community leaders, some local Republican Parties have decided to place "vote challengers" in predominately African American precincts to "target illegal voters" (much as they did in 2003, when Republican Ernie Fletcher won the Governor’s Mansion).
• SD, 2004: Native American voters were prevented from voting in their primary election after they were challenged to provide photo IDs, which they are not required to present under state or federal law.
• FL, 2004: State officials ordered the implementation of a 'potential felon' purge list to remove voters from the rolls, similar to actions in 2000 that removed thousands of eligible votes. The state abandoned the idea after news media investigations revealed that the 2004 list also included thousands of people who are eligible to vote, and heavily targeted African Americans, while virtually ignoring Hispanic voters, which in Florida have largely tended to vote Republican.

In the face of such overwhelming evidence of widespread, systematic voter suppression, civil rights organizations are mobilizing on a massive scale for this election, working to set up a comprehensive election protection program to defend the voting rights of people of color. As democratic socialists, we enthusiastically endorse this effort, and view broad, grassroots support for it as not just a strategic necessity but a moral imperative for the Left. As young people, we also see the disturbing similarities between race based voter suppression and suppression of the student vote, a generations-long social ill which has been documented in recent months by groups like Rock the Vote and others. Students attempting to register voters are often told that students must register at their hometown address instead of local ones, and those attempting to secure campus polling places have faced hostile county elections offices who fear the effect of a high student turnout.

While understanding that registering and mobilizing voters is critical this year, as is working to see that the results of electronic machine voting can be verified and cross-checked through a ballot paper trail, the Young Democratic Socialists is prioritizing election protection work. Local YDSers will mobilize to participate in and promote election protection activities in traditionally targeted communities in order to ensure that their votes actually count. We will work with the nonpartisan 2004 Election Protection coalition, a group including People For the American Way Foundation, NAACP National Voter Fund, National Council of La Raza, Asian Legal Defense and Education Fund, American Civil Liberties Union, and the AFL-CIO Voting Rights Protection Program, among many others.

YDSers will contact local organizations to find out about any ongoing work, then help build coalitions to do public education about voter disenfranchisement, as a tool for recruiting election protection volunteers. Education will emphasize the similarities and differences between race based voter suppression and suppression of the student vote, one of which is designed to continue to block people of color from participating in American democracy, and the other of which is designed to cause a decline in overall voting rates in the American public by targeting young voters. YDSers will also prioritize recruiting volunteers to serve as poll monitors(performing on-site poll monitoring, offering immediate voter assistance, and reporting evidence of problems to same-day legal assistance Voters' Hotline) and/or serve as Bill of Rights Canvassers (handing out state-specific Voters’ Bills of Rights in key neighborhoods where voting rights are at risk). YDSers near law schools should work especially to recruit law student volunteers to staff the Voters' Hotline and provide same-day legal assistance.

As democratic socialists committed to strong anti-racist politics and vision, we see empowering communities of color and other progressive voting blocks as vital. We will follow the leadership of organizations of color in finding ways to stand in solidarity, since their perspective, as those being particularly oppressed, must be given high priority. We must build a society in which every vote counts, and in which every person has the right and ability to vote. However, we acknowledge that demanding power only begins in the voting booth, so we will consciously consider our coalition work around election protection as a way to strengthen our relationships with organizations and communities of color in their struggles. Finally, this election and its aftermath provide us with an opportunity to articulate a strong anti-racist message on the Left. We hope to help build a movement where the overwhelming argument for anti-racist politics and action translates into a strategic understanding that any movement for democratic socialism must make the fight for racial justice a top priority.

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