Preventing people from voting because they owe legal fees or court fines muzzle low-income Americans at a time in our nation’s history when the rich have more political power than ever.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans are being denied the right to vote because they are poor.
In nine states, Republican legislators have enacted laws that disenfranchise anyone with outstanding legal fees or court fines. For example, in Alabama more than 100,000 people who owe money – roughly 3 percent of the state’s voting-age population – have been struck from voting rolls.
This is unconstitutional. In 1964, the 24th amendment abolished the poll tax, a Jim Crow tactic used to bar poor blacks from voting.
These new laws are a modern reincarnation of that unconstitutional system, disproportionately disenfranchising people of color.
Income and wealth should have no bearing on the right to vote. Many Americans are struggling to make ends meet. But they still have a constitutional right to make their voices heard.
Preventing people from voting because they owe legal fees or court fines muzzle low-income Americans at a time in our nation’s […]
I strongly recommend not voting in the first place, because you are giving away your personal power to people who amount to corporate contractors. Our legal and political system is a fraud.
I am afraid you are so wrong, Mark. We need more voters not fewer, and we need for them to vote for policies and people that place wellbeing as the first priority.