Welcome to the South, Where Voter Suppression Is Alive and Well
We need grassroots efforts to counteract red states that impose white supermajority rule on Black citizens
I geared up to vote in person this year because, no matter what, I needed my vote to count in the 2020 presidential election. I researched my state’s laws on election attire ahead of time to ensure my Black Lives Matter shirt would not get me turned away from the polls as it had to voters in Memphis. As a Black man in the suburbs of Arkansas, the constitutional right to vote isn’t something you can always count on. But within minutes of arriving at my voting site, at a non-denominational church in the suburbs, I was inside and able to escape the summer’s last heat. I walked past the sanctuary, with its guitars and drums still on stage, to cast my vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in less than 20 minutes.
The presidential election wasn’t the only issue drawing me to the polls. Also on the ballot was Issue 3, a proposed amendment to Arkansas’ Constitution that would increase the threshold citizens have to muster to get an initiative in front of voters. Under current law, an organization must present signatures from half of all residents in 15 of 70 counties in order to get on the ballot; Issue 3 increases this threshold to 45 out of 70…
