One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy

by Carol Anderson

The Atlantic journalist Vann R. Newkirk II summed up how intentionally daunting the barricades to voting in 2017 were. “Voting has always been burdensome for black people in Alabama,” he noted. There were the standard obstacles of ID, limited polling places, purged voter rolls, and more, which had all been deployed, and meanwhile, the tried-and-true voter modernization techniques were simply not available. Newkirk explained, “Early voting, which has been a key factor for other states in increasing black turnout, is not permitted in Alabama. The state also doesn’t have no-fault absentee voting, preregistration for teens, or same-day registration. In all, it’s harder to vote in Alabama than just about anywhere else.”