Voting is one of the most valued rights in America today, and as the Supreme Court noted more than a century ago, it is “preservative of all rights.”  However, the battle for enfranchisement has been anything but straightforward. When America was founded, the right to vote was determined by the states and largely the exclusive province of white, property-owning men over the age of 21. It wasn’t until 1856 that all white men were given the right to vote, and it took another 14 years for men of color to gain the right to vote by law. However, laws are no better than their implementation, and our history is rich with examples of prejudicial barriers designed to keep eligible voters of color from the polls (e.g. poll taxes, literacy tests, and impersonation/intimidation) for generations after the U.S. Constitution was amended to proscribe racial discrimination at the state level regarding voting rights. Women didn’t gain the right to vote nationwide until 1920, followed by Native Americans, who were granted citizenship (and therefore the right to vote) with the passage of the Indian Citizenship Act in 1924, and finally Asian-Americans in 1952.

Voting activism found a long overdue victory with the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, which guaranteed the right to vote regardless of sex, race, religion, or education to all citizens over the age of 21. The 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA) eliminated literacy tests in the U.S. and provided for federal enforcement of voter registration and voting rights. Finally, in 1971, the 26^th Amendment lowered the voting age from 21 to 18, a response to public outcry that 18-year-olds were old enough to die for their country but not old enough to cast their ballot.

In 2013, the Supreme Court found in Shelby County v. Holder that a part of the Voting Rights Act—that required jurisdictions with a history of suppressing voting rights to seek preclearance from the U.S. Department of Justice prior to making changes in their election laws —unconstitutional, which has led to voter suppression of minorities due to a massive-scale closing of polling places, among other practices, making it harder for minority and low-income communities to vote. Add the COVID-19 pandemic, which also disproportionately affects Black and Brown communities, to the existing voting system and voter participation is unlikely to be fairly reflective of those who are entitled to vote.

As legal professionals, we are called to advocate for and uphold the right to vote, the hinge pin to all other rights bestowed under law—whether that be mitigating the effects of burdensome voter ID laws by helping individuals, or advocating for voting-by-mail which has become increasingly popular in recent years and could be a critical alternative to in-person voting this fall.  We have many examples types of voting rights pro bono opportunities in our latest blog. FIND OUT MORE.