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You voted, now make sure your vote is counted! Track your ballot using My Voter Record from the NJ Div. of Elections.

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2020 New Jersey Voter Information Portal

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2020 New Jersey Voter Information Portal

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Register to vote or check your registration. You can also learn more about how to vote in NJ or find the closest secure ballot drop box for your location. If you set up a NJ Voter Information System account, you can even track your ballot.

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From the Zinn Education Project. Also check out their collection of teaching activities on Democracy & Citizenship.

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Teaching Activities (Free)

Teaching Activity. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. 2020.
Unit with three lessons on voting rights, including the history of the struggle against voter suppression in the United States.

Time Periods: All US History

Themes: Voting Rights, Civil Rights Movements, Democracy & Citizenship

By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca
2020 is both an election year and the 150th anniversary of the passage of the 15th Amendment, making it an important time to invite our students to consider the history of voting rights in the United States. The struggle for the ballot is emblematic of the struggle to make real the democratic promises of this country's founding narrative. Just as the United States has never been a true "government by the people, for the people," the right to vote has always been incomplete, contested, and compromised by the racism, sexism, classism, and xenophobia of policymakers and the interests they act to protect. In a moment of renewed and insidious voter suppression, examining the history of voting rights also presents an opportunity to challenge the deeply entrenched fable of the steady forward progress of U.S. history. Voting rights have expanded in the last 400 years, but they have also been taken away, requiring activists to rise up, again and again, to restore the achievements of prior generations. The fight for the ballot is ongoing.

Recent elections have brought forth the old problem of voter suppression in a new guise - voter ID laws, voter roll purges, polling places shuttered. As activists combat these restrictive, antidemocratic measures, it is vital that we provide students historical context for their efforts, which is why the Zinn Education Project has put together a cluster of lessons on the history of voting rights in the United States. These lessons can be taught individually, but they are presented here as a progression.

The first lesson considers the question of who should vote. Students first share their understanding of what makes a "qualified" voter, then reconsider their thinking after a close reading of an oral history by Fannie Lou Hamer.

The second lesson asks students to predict how policymakers might have restricted the right to vote for certain groups to thwart movements and laws that expanded voting rights.

The final lesson is a mixer role play in which students learn about a variety of people with firsthand experience having their voting rights granted or denied. The roles reach back as far as the colonial era and forward to the present. This lesson closes with a timeline activity in which students create a visual map depicting the expansion and contraction of voting rights over time.

SMU Dedman School of Law professor Grant M. Hayden has written:

The history of voting in the United States has not been characterized by a smooth and inexorable progress toward universal political participation. It has instead been much messier, littered with periods of both expansion and retraction of the franchise with respect to many groups of potential voters.

Young people need to know this "messier" history; it is a history that calls us to action, a history that conveys that voting rights are not definitively won, but must be struggled for and defended.

Classroom Stories

High Social Studies Administrator, Bayside, New York

Middle Social Studies Teacher, New York City, New York

High Social Studies Teacher, Monrovia, California

High Social Studies Teacher, Oregon

Loved being able to lead a @ZinnEdProject session today for other district teachers! We did the voting rights mixer and it was a blast! So many great conversations and ideas💡for implementing 🙌🏼 @CFB_Soc_Studies @mrschapman808 pic.twitter.com/gkqvy2mxOT

- History Gone TRUONG! (@truong_terri) February 14, 2020

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Who Gets to Vote? Teaching About the Struggle for Voting Rights in the United States - Zinn Education Project

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Teaching Activities (Free) Teaching Activity. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. 2020. Unit with three lessons on voting rights, including the history of the struggle against voter suppression in the United States.

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This curated collection features our best resources for civics education with a focus on elections and voting. The collection includes posters for students of all ages, along with videos, lessons, texts and student tasks for middle school and elementary classrooms.

For Grades 6 and Up

Prepare your students to bust five common voting myths with this free classroom poster!

"Change happens one step at a time. Keep picking them up and putting them down."

A series of videos from NBC News, ranging from 90 seconds to 13 minutes long. Titles include: "The Right to Vote," "Signing of the Civil Rights Act," "Fannie Lou Hamer's Testimony at the 1964 Democratic Convention," "Suffragists Change Tactics in Fight for Equal Suffrage," "The Freedom Riders" and more.

This 40-minute documentary tells the story of how students and teachers in Selma, Alabama, fought for their voting rights. Order a film kit from TT, and we'll send you a DVD, along with a viewer's guide, absolutely free.

This lesson looks at an important question students will face as citizens: What responsibilities accompany our basic rights?

In this lesson, students watch an episode of the PBS documentary series America by the Numbers with Maria Hinojosa, which examines the influence of voters from four demographic groups. Students will strategize about ways to encourage voter participation in their communities and plan an action project based on their learning.

We've partnered with Rock the Vote to launch a new version of their popular Democracy Class, a series of lessons about the history and power of voting rights in the United States.

In this short article, TT Award Winner Henry Cody Miller explains how he brought the 2016 election into his 9th-grade English classroom and encouraged critical literacy by asking students to hypothesize how literary characters would vote.

It's a common misconception that the only thing stopping people from voting is laziness. But voter suppression is real, and your students need to understand how it happens.

You can teach students about gerrymandering and still remain nonpartisan. Here's how.

In this primary text, Theresa Burroughs speaks with her daughter, Toni Love, about the obstacles she faced trying to vote under Jim Crow laws in Alabama.

Rebecca Newland, former Teacher in Residence at the Library of Congress, offers recommendations for primary source texts that will help students better understand the fight for black suffrage in the early 1900s.

This 2012 article explains some of the arguments behind-and some of the consequences of-voter ID laws.

Students create a voter's guide including information about voters' rights, important voting dates and deadlines, and an overview of what to expect at the polls. Students share the guide and ask friends and family to sign Teaching Tolerance's Voting and Voices pledges, committing to use their voice or vote in the upcoming elections.

In this Do Something student performance task, students use online resources to analyze local voter registration and turnout rates and to explore potential roadblocks to the voting process.

For Grades K-5

Prepare your students to bust five common voting myths with this free classroom poster!

"Change happens one step at a time. Keep picking them up and putting them down."

Fifth grade just started, and already Jeremiah has an assignment he's worried about: talking to his family about voting.

Harry Burn casts the deciding vote in his state's House of Representatives, and women's suffrage becomes law in Tennessee. This story is accompanied by a toolkit with recommendations for teachers.

This lesson looks at an important question students will face as citizens: What responsibilities accompany our basic rights?

Students create a voter's guide including information about voters' rights, important voting dates and deadlines, and an overview of what to expect at the polls. Students share the guide and ask friends and family to sign Teaching Tolerance's Voting and Voices pledges, committing to use their voice or vote in the upcoming elections.
Back to Voting and Voices Page

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This curated collection features our best resources for civics education with a focus on elections and voting. The collection includes posters for students of all ages, along with videos, lessons, texts and student tasks for middle school and elementary classrooms. For Grades 6 and Up 5 Myths About Voting Prepare your students to bust five common voting myths with this free classroom poster!

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Includes discussion guide, photographs, and information about becoming involved as a teen during elections. This is an essential explanation of the history of voting rights — and a call to action for a better future.

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In the young adult adaptation of Carol Anderson's New York Times best-seller One Person, No Vote, readers encounter the history, the statistics, and the possible solutions for voter suppression in the United States.

As the jacket explains, when a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court decision (known as the Shelby ruling) undid the protections offered by the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the floodgates opened to voter suppression on a whole new scale. From photo ID requirements to gerrymandering and poll closures, this book explores the ways that racist political maneuverings work to limit voting rights - and the ways that activists are fighting to restore them

Complete with a discussion guide, photographs, and information about becoming involved as a teen during elections, this is an essential explanation of the history of voting rights - and a call to action for a better future. [Description from the publisher.]

ISBN : 9781547601530 | Published by Bloomsbury.

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One Person, No Vote (YA edition): How Not All Voters Are Treated Equally - Zinn Education Project

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In the young adult adaptation of Carol Anderson's New York Times best-seller One Person, No Vote , readers encounter the history, the statistics, and the possible solutions for voter suppression in the United States. As the jacket explains, when a 2013 U.S.

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Election Forecasting

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EFFECTIVE VOTING ALLOWS A COMMUNITY TO DETERMINE ITS OWN DESTINY.

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Partnership and Ongoing Collaboration Will Empower, Grow Volunteer Base and Increase Civic Engagement in Predominantly Black Communities Nationwide ATLANTA - September 30, 2020 - Black Voters Matter (BVM), an organization committed to expanding Black voter engagement and increasing progressive power through movement and capacity building, and Sony Electronics Inc. today announced the creation of a new partnership. The multi-faceted partnership, part of BVM's WE GOT THE POWER campaign, will initially [...]

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Partnership and Ongoing Collaboration Will Empower, Grow Volunteer Base and Increase Civic Engagement in Predominantly Black Communities Nationwide ATLANTA - September 30, 2020 - Black Voters Matter (BVM), an organization committed to expanding Black voter engagement and increasing progressive power through movement and capacity building, and Sony Electronics Inc.

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What Young Black Voters Think Ahead of the 2020 Elections

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What Young Black Voters Think About the 2020 Elections

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TIME asked several Black youth their views on the Black Lives Matter movement, American politics, and the 2020 presidential election

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Freedom Riders: AMERICAN EXPERIENCE | PBS LearningMedia

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Learn about the Freedom Riders, a courageous band of African American and white civil rights activists who in 1961 rode together on buses throughout the American South to challenge segregation. These video segments document the events and accomplishments of the Freedom Riders, and introduce you to the real human stories of those who helped change our history.

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Say it Louder: Black Voters, White Narratives, and Saving Our Democracy

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Say it Louder: Black Voters, White Narratives, and Saving Our Democracy

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Completing the CAPTCHA proves you are a human and gives you temporary access to the web property.

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BLM in School 2020 National Student Voter Toolkit

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BLM in School 2020 National Student Voter Toolkit

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BLM Voter Toolkit

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The Informed Voters Guide to Making Sure Your Vote Counts

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The Informed Voters Guide to Making Sure Your Vote Counts

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ProPublica's Electionland project tracks problems that prevent people from voting.

If you witness issues in your area, here's how to let us know:

Where do you vote?

Double Check Your Registration

In every state except North Dakota, you have to be registered in order to vote. States and counties are supposed to remove from their registered voter rolls inactive voters and people who have died or moved. The process can be imperfect, and people can be removed from the rolls who still intend to vote.

Issues with registration are among the most common problems voters face at the polls - 65 percent of calls received by a tip line set up in 2016 by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials were about issues with voter registration.

When you show up to vote, a poll worker checks that your name and correct information are on the voter roll. In many counties, you can check whether you are registered through your county or city municipal website.

What You Can Do Now

Check a Website to Make Sure You're Registered

If you think you're registered but haven't voted in a while, check to make sure you haven't been taken off the rolls. A recent Supreme Court case, Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute, upheld the ability of election jurisdictions to remove from the voter rolls people who haven't voted in years and who did not heed warnings sent by mail. If you've voted in the last few elections, it's very unlikely this has happened to you, but there's a way to find out if it has.

What to Do if You've Been "Purged"

If you're in one of the 17 states with same-day registration, you should be able to simply re-register and vote as you normally would. If your registration has been deactivated and the deadline to register has passed, you can still vote through a provisional ballot. In this case, you should go to the polling location designated for your home address and ask to submit a provisional ballot. If the personal information on your provisional ballot, like your name and address, match the details of your previous registration, you will likely be automatically re-registered, according to Tammy Patrick, a former election official who is now a senior adviser at the Democracy Fund.

You should bring some proof of registration to the polls if you have it. Proof of registration includes your registration card, a confirmation of registration or the carbon copy of the registration form if you filled it out by hand. These items help to show that you were at one point registered and eligible to vote.

You can read more about voting provisionally below.

What You Can Do When You Go to Vote

Bring Your Registration Card

Your unique voter ID number is very useful if there's an issue with your registration when you show up to vote. You are assigned this number when your registration is confirmed. If you have your voter card, great. If not, print out a screenshot of your registration confirmation from your election jurisdiction website. Bring it with you when you vote. The most important element is your voter ID number. Poll workers can use voter ID numbers to check databases for information when there are registration problems.

Know Your State's ID Requirements

Thirty-four states request or require that you present some form of ID card when you vote. In some states, you can fill out a form saying that you couldn't get an ID in time to vote. So-called "strict ID" states will only let you vote using a provisional ballot if you lack an acceptable form of ID. In these states, you might need to take further action to make sure your ballot is counted, like returning to the polling place with the proper form of ID.

What You Can Do Now

Take a few minutes and figure out your state's ID requirements

Experts say that voters are poorly informed about what ID is required, and many who decide not to vote because they think they don't have an acceptable ID actually do. Don't give up hope! You can find out the ID requirements in your state below (data courtesy of the League of Women Voters). Read them carefully!

Select a location above to see the id requirements.

Know Where You're Going

Another way to prepare yourself is to make sure you've got accurate information about where you vote. Polling places can change, so make sure ahead of time that you're showing up at the right location. Even if you've voted in the same place for decades, it's worth checking. You can minimize mistakes by learning basic information ahead of time. Checking your polling place is super simple. You can do a Google search for "Where do I vote" or click the button below, and we'll do it for you.

What You Can Do Now

Make Sure You Know

1. Your polling location

2. The hours of operation at that polling place

3. If the polling place is large, where parking is available, and which building contains the voting machines

What You Can Do When You Vote

Leave Extra Time!

If you find yourself in the wrong polling place, the best thing to do is to leave and go where you're supposed to vote. Leave yourself enough time that you can still make it even if you have to go to a different polling place and wait in line again.

Patrick said that it's easy to underestimate the amount of time it will take to vote and that voters should give themselves plenty of time to find the right building and cast their ballot.

Long Lines

While we're on the subject of long lines: Election officials are expecting heavy turnout on Election Day. Experts say that wait times longer than a half hour will cause some voters to abandon the effort. Don't let that happen to you!

If you tend to vote after work, you can expect to be able to vote even if the line looks like it is so long you'll still be in it after polls have closed. Most states have laws protecting this right, explaining exactly how the last person in line is determined, and poll workers are instructed to allow every person already in line when the polls close to vote.

Beware of Misinformation

Misinformation about voting is a common dirty trick in campaigns going back generations. Be on the lookout for fraudulent mailers, flyers, robocalls and especially SMS messages.

Claire Wardle, head of First Draft, a group that researches and combats misinformation, warns about social media posts pushing false or misleading information: "This might be rumors that you can stay at home and vote via text message. It might be old images of protests at poll stations, suggesting it would be difficult or dangerous to vote. There might be fabricated videos showing voting machines displaying the wrong name when someone goes to vote. If you see any information connected to how you can vote, double-check the source. Don't re-share that information."

First Draft is a partner on ProPublica's Electionland project.

Voters whose native language is not English may be especially vulnerable, and they may also have to deal with poor translations of important voting information.

You should rely on trustworthy sources of information, as well as official documents.

What You Can Do Now

Know Your Info

You can fight bad information by knowing the right information. If you've read the previous section, you are already on your way to doing that! All voters should know their polling location, hours of operation and ID requirements.

Where to Get That Info

Refer to official government websites for translated information. While these sites make mistakes, those errors are likely to be caught by advocacy groups and corrected.

On election information you get in the mail, look for the official election mail logo. The U.S. Postal Service only allows this logo on materials sent by authorized election officials. It cannot be used for political purposes by campaigns.

Find Out What's on Your Ballot Right Now

You might be surprised on Election Day when you see just how much is on your ballot. Some states have local judicial elections, municipal races and lengthy ballot measures to vote on in addition to candidates. In Florida, some ballots run up to five pages long. These are potential laws that will affect you, so it is in your best interest to make an informed decision! You can take the time to read a sample ballot today and have a game plan ready when you enter the voting booth.

What You Can Do Now

Check BallotReady

BallotReady is a nonpartisan voting information website where you can look up a sample ballot for your jurisdiction. If you can't find your sample ballot there, you can find one on your state or county election website.

Do a Dress Rehearsal

If you're especially nervous about what to do once you get to your polling place, you might be able to get some practice. Many local election boards have an extra voting machine that anyone can come check out before they vote. Give them a call to see if they have a machine you can come try. But be patient - this is their busiest season, especially if early voting has begun in your state.

The User's Guide to Democracy

You can also join ProPublica's User's Guide to Democracy email list. This personalized newsletter shows how Congress and elections really work, helping you become more engaged in this election and beyond. You can sign up below.

When You Vote

Follow Directions When Filling Out Your Ballot

Poorly designed ballots can be confusing. If you're voting on a paper ballot, the Center for Civic Design outlines three common mistakes to be aware of.

1. Missed candidate names

According to the CCD, voters can miss candidates when the list is so long that it's split into two columns. Make sure you aren't missing any candidates before you select one.

2. Missed voting choices on the back of ballots

If your ballot is just a single page, turn it over. There could be more on the other side.

3. Incorrectly marked selections

Read the directions to know the proper way to mark your ballot. Some voters will mark a "check" when they should actually fill in the box completely.

Sometimes, selecting more than one candidate in a race will void your vote. If you accidentally mark the wrong candidate, don't try to correct it yourself. Let a poll worker know. They should be able to void your ballot and give you a new one.

But also be aware that you might need to choose more than one candidate in a race. This is sometimes the case in races to pick judges.

Access the Ballot if You're Disabled

Every polling place must comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act. If the building the polling place is in isn't accessible, the law requires that the jurisdiction provide an alternative such as curbside voting. Building access and a lack of poll-worker training on ADA-compliant voting machines can provide extra challenges for voters needing assistance.

What You Can Do When You Vote

Every polling place must have an ADA-compliant voting machine. Even if your polling place uses paper ballots, there should be a ballot-marking device for those who need it

If it is not offered to you, you can ask for it. If the machine is not working, you should let the poll workers know. If the poll workers do not know how to use the machine, you should contact the election director for your county and make them aware of the situation.

Vote Provisionally if You Must

If you think you've done everything right but are stopped from voting, don't give up! Federal law requires poll workers to offer a provisional or affidavit ballot to voters who can't vote the conventional way. If the error that kept you from voting is cleared up, the provisional ballot will have the same effect as a regular ballot. It will be verified to ensure you are indeed eligible to vote in that district.

But the provisional ballot is not fail-safe. It will only count if it turns out you are eligible and registered. If you voted at the wrong polling place, whether or not your provisional ballot is counted based on your state's laws. Maine is the only state that will count your entire ballot regardless of where you voted. Other states will only count your votes on the races that you would have been eligible to vote in based on where you are registered. Many states will not count the ballot at all. Since there are many local races in the midterms, it is important to vote in the correct polling location.

You might have to take some action in order for your provisional ballot to count. That could include going to the board of election office with proper ID within a specified period of time after the election. So after submitting your provisional ballot, you should follow up to make sure you've completed whatever action is required.

You should also follow up with the election office to find out if your ballot was counted. You can use the receipt you are given when you submit your provisional ballot to follow up after the election and check the status of your ballot.

If All Else Fails, Call for Help

If there are any issues you encounter when you vote, you should make your poll workers aware of the situation and give them a chance to fix it, said Genya Coulter, who is a precinct clerk in Florida.

There are resources available if, despite your preparation, you still can't vote. The political parties usually operate voter hotlines, and an avowedly nonpartisan group called Election Protection operates a call center anybody can contact to get advice.

Republican Voter Hotline: The Republican Party is not operating a national voting problems hotline this year, but it directs voters to contact state and county Republican Party officials.

Democratic Voter Hotline: 833-336-8683

Election Protection Hotlines:

866-OUR-VOTE run by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (who provides data to Electionland)

888-Ve-Y-Vota (Spanish) run by the NALEO Educational Fund

844-Yalla-US (Arabic/English) run by the Arab American Institute

888-API-VOTE run by Asian and Pacific Islander Vote and Asian Americans Advancing Justice

How to Report Problems to Electionland

Electionland is a coalition of hundreds of newsrooms around the country that is monitoring all of the problems outlined in this guide, now through Election Day. Led by ProPublica, Electionland uses data and technology to track any issues that can prevent voters from casting their ballots - including long lines, registration problems, purged voter rolls, broken machines, voter intimidation, misinformation, changed voting locations and more - nationwide and in real time. We need your help to do it.

Here's how to let us know if you encountered anything that stopped you or others from casting a ballot:

In 2016, the Electionland coalition went through thousands of tips from a legal call center hotline, as well as thousands of text messages and social media posts from voters like you. Local journalists around the country reported 400 stories and helped bring attention to voting problems that were fixed before polls closed.

This year, if you see something, say something. We're listening.

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The Informed Voter's Guide to Making Sure Your Vote Counts

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ProPublica's Electionland project tracks problems that prevent people from voting. If you witness issues in your area, here's how to let us know: In every state except North Dakota, you have to be registered in order to vote. States and counties are supposed to remove from their registered voter rolls inactive voters and people who have died or moved.

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Voting Then and Now

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African Americans Recall Fight for the Right to Vote

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African Americans Recall Fight for the Right to Vote

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African Americans Recall 1960's Fight For Voting Rights

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A History of Voting Rights | The New York Times

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The Fight for the Right to Vote in the United States Video

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The Fight for the Right to Vote in the United States Video

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Can be used for class instruction & discussion.

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The fight for the right to vote in the United States - Nicki Beaman Griffin

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The national racial justice organizationColor of Change is offering a Toolkit for Voting Rights Activists as part of the campaign to teach about voting rights in this 150th anniversary year of the 15th Amendment.

The toolkit is designed to help students learn about the current state of voting rights and to take action. Download and share.

Below are excerpts from the toolkit.

Current Voting Rights Landscape

Sign the Petition to demand safe voting during COVID: Tell Congress to protect public health and the integrity of our elections by supporting voting by mail now. In light of the coronavirus pandemic - which makes the already-problematic long lines faced by many Black voters an even more serious public health threat - it is imperative that we make this option available to all voters.

that lets people see existing laws that affect voting rights and accessibility in each state, and tracks the movement of new bills that have an impact on voting rights.Voting Rights Lab has put together a State Voting Rights Tracker

Electionland by ProPublica is a collaborative project led by ProPublica that collects coverage of voting rights issues from newsrooms all over the country.

Vox Media has a voting rights issue hub that helps the public make sense of the current state of voting rights in America.

Suppressed: The Fight to Vote is a 38-minute documentary that shows what contemporary voter suppression looks like by sharing the experiences of Georgia voters during their 2018 Gubernatorial election. Brave New Films provides free access to the film for schools and community groups.

Tools You Can Use to Take Action

TurboVote is an online tool people can use to access voter registration forms, get election reminders, and more. Whether you can vote or not, you can impact our democracy by sharing this link and empowering eligible voters to get registered.

Organize For is a platform for Color Of Change activists to start your own campaigns on issues you care about. You can use this tool to start a campaign around a problem you uncover in your voting rights research, or to promote an idea you have for a way to improve voting rights and access in your community.

YourVoice is a video tool Color Of Change activists can use to create your own campaign videos to raise awareness about issues that matter to you. You can use this tool to create a video in support of your voting rights campaign.

Share your stories and actions with #TeachVotingRights and #LearnVotingRights.

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Color of Change Voting Rights Toolkit - Zinn Education Project

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The national racial justice organizationColor of Change is offering a Toolkit for Voting Rights Activists as part of the campaign to teach about voting rights in this 150th anniversary year of the 15th Amendment . The toolkit is designed to help students learn about the current state of voting rights and to take action.

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Redistricting. Gerrymandering. Poll tax. Voter ID laws. You might have heard of them, but do you really know what they are, and how they impact U.S. elections? These five books about voter suppression in the United States will inspire you to get involved in the fight for fair elections.

There's a lot of talk about so-called voter fraud going on today, but the truth is that what we call voter fraud isn't actually a thing, from a statistical perspective. However, the systematic disenfranchisement of elderly and disabled voters, and voters of color, is a very real problem, and it's one that everyone, in every state, should be committed to eliminating. If the lack of translators and abruptly closed or relocated polling locations can affect someone else in the United States, they can affect you, too.

No matter if you carry your voter registration card with you everywhere or you've never voted in your life, this is a conversation in which you should be taking part. To help you get started, Bustle has put together a short list of five books about voter suppression, any one of which will empower you understand and combat one of the United States' largest equity issues.

1. The Voting Rights War: The NAACP and the Ongoing Struggle for Justice by Gloria J. Browne-Marshall

Race, Law, and American Society author Gloria J. Browne-Marshall traces the history of African American voting rights in this slim volume. Moving from antebellum America through Plessy v. Ferguson and into the present, Browne-Marshall's The Voting Rights War is a must-read book for anyone who wants to know how we got to now.

2. One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy by Carol Anderson

Published in the wake of Shelby County v. Holder, a Supreme Court decision that allowed U.S. counties to change voting policies without federal approval, and longlisted for the National Book Award, White Rage author Carol Anderson's One Person, No Vote examines the impact of voter suppression on the United States.

3. Uncounted: The Crisis of Voter Suppression in America by Gilda R. Daniels

From the former deputy chief of the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice comes this eye-opening account of voter suppression since 1965, when Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law. In spite of that legislation, which eliminated literacy tests and enfranchised immigrants and members of ethnic minority groups, attempts at voter suppression have not ceased, as Uncounted makes clear.

4. On Account of Race: The Supreme Court, White Supremacy, and the Ravaging of African American Voting Rights by Lawrence Goldstone

Beginning with the United States v. Cruikshank decision of 1876, which removed 14th Amendment regulation for state governments and private businesses and citizens, Lawrence Goldstone's On Account of Race reveals the ways in which the U.S. Supreme Court has, time and again, upheld white supremacy at the expense of voters of color.

5. Voter Suppression in U.S. Elections, edited by Jim Downs

Begun as a conversation between the editor, Stacey Abrams, Carol Anderson, Kevin M. Kruse, Heather Cox Richardson, and Heather Ann Thompson, Voter Suppression in U.S. Elections is a must-read new book about the modern-day fight against disenfranchisement and how everyone can - and should - get involved.

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5 Books About Voter Suppression That Will Inspire You To Get Involved

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Redistricting. Gerrymandering. Poll tax. Voter ID laws. You might have heard of them, but do you really know what they are, and how they impact U.S. elections? These five books about voter suppression in the United States will inspire you to get involved in the fight for fair elections.

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Film Review: 'Suppressed the Fight to Vote'

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Film Review: 'Suppressed the Fight to Vote'

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A link to watch the movie on YouTube is in the article.

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In 2018, Stacey Abrams, having served in the Georgia House of Representatives for 10 years, ran as the Democratic candidate for governor of Georgia. She was the first African-American woman in the United States to be chosen as a gubernatorial nominee by one of the two major parties. Abrams had tremendous support, and after losing the election by just 50,000 votes, she sued the Georgia board of elections, citing multiple documented allegations of voter suppression. To this day, Abrams has refused to concede the election, and she's right - there's a powerful likelihood that the 2018 Georgia governor's race was, in effect, stolen. That's a moral, political, and legal outrage.

But as Robert Greenwald's scary and galvanizing documentary " Suppressed: The Fight to Vote " demonstrates, the meaning of what happened in Georgia has implications that extend far beyond that race. As the film anatomizes, the Georgia election was a textbook case of what's now happening to the American electoral system. It's being undercut - not by Russian bots or too much fake news on Facebook (though none of that helps), but by the Republican Party, which has devised a kind of slow-motion, "invisible" series of methods to stack the deck. The implications are ominous.

If I had a dime for every time I heard a liberal say of Hillary Clinton in 2016, "She won the election" (because she won the popular vote), I'd be rolling in dimes. But let's be clear: That kind of thinking may feel righteous, but it holds no water. Hillary Clinton did not win the election. The electoral college, in my opinion, should be handily abolished (it's a time-machine relic), but until the day that happens we have the system we have.

Yet when forces within the establishment figure out ways to game the system, our democracy becomes a thinly veiled charade. And that's what happened in the Georgia governor's race in 2018. It should terrify everyone.

To my liberal friends who now acknowledge the distinct possibility of a Trump victory in the 2020 election, I want to say: Welcome to reality, but you're still behind the curve. The prospect of extending the Trump disaster into a second term seems unthinkable, but the most cataclysmic question is what happens after that - in 2024. Do we seriously believe that if Trump is re-elected, he's simply going to walk away from the presidency four years from now? That assumption strikes me as terribly naïve. But how could Trump run for, and win, a third term? How could the Republicans do an end run around the 22nd Amendment, which was put in place after the grand exception of FDR in World War II precisely to stop the possibility of one-party rule?

The answer to that, as typified by the Senate impeachment trial we're about to have, is that the Republicans, in throwing in their lot with Trump's authoritarian leadership, ceased caring about the rule of law a while back. What will they stop at? Probably nothing. They're all in. And the disenfranchisement of voters is one of the key ways that they're shoring up their power.

If you think that sounds alarmist, you need to learn more about how the process works. Barak Goodman and Chris Durrance's brilliant documentary "Slay the Dragon," which might be described as an exploration of gerrymandering 3.0, will be released in March, and it's a must-see. But "Suppressed," in its compact and smaller-scale way, is just as essential. It's only 38 minutes long, and it's not coming to a theater near you. But it may be showing at a church, a university, or a community center (700 screenings have been held in 43 states), and it's on YouTube, where you can link to it right now. In the time it takes for a lunch break, you can get a crash course in how and why America is crashing.

Greenwald, the muckraking solo flyer who has made such incisive, scrupulous, dark-side-of-the-real-world documentaries as "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism" (2004), "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" (2005), and "Making a Killing: Guns, Greed, and the NRA" (2016), talks to voters, politicians, and scholars, laying out the clandestine techniques by which citizens are denied their rights. In Georgia, the suppression of voting was done, in part, under the auspices of Brian Kemp, the Trump-backed Georgia Secretary of State who Stacey Abrams was running against. That's a typical situation: those in power using their leverage to choke off the process. The voters who get targeted tend to be poor, African-American, and Democratic.

"Suppressed" captures how Kemp, in the year leading up to the election, purged an astonishing 890,000 eligible voters from the Georgia voter rolls (that's 14 percent of the electorate). By what rationale? Voters were purged for not having voted in the last few elections. They were purged for having moved within the same county. For having not returned a postcard from the Secretary of State. And Democratic counties were purged at a rate that was four times that of Republican counties. Using outrageously restrictive "exact match" laws, Kemp put 53,260 new registrations on hold (80 percent of them were people of color); the election was decided by 54,723 votes.

Yet it's telling that as corruptions go, these are not sexy ones. On election day in Georgia, the lines in numerous polling places in African-American neighborhoods were so long and slow-moving that it took three to five hours for many people to vote. That's because the precincts were given so few voting machines. (It's been statistically established that long lines at the polling station lead to low voter turnout.) Carol Anderson, the chair of African-American Studies at Emory University, says, "We've got to understand, this isn't a Klan cross burning. This stuff is very bureaucratic, it's very mundane, it's very routine. But it is lethal."

Many of the techniques of voter suppression captured in "Suppressed" are not new; they've been going on for decades. But the age of technology, and the absolutist slant of the new Republican Party as it's been born again under Trump, have heightened and formalized the corruptions of old. In the movie, Marcia Fudge, who heads the elections subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives, says, "This is systematic. If you look at what has happened across this country in the last five years, 40 states have passed some kind of law to make it more difficult for people to vote." Carol Anderson says, "Pull back the veneer, and you see something really rotten happening. It's almost like termites coming in - they're in the wood, they're eating the wood away, and you don't even realize your house is getting ready to collapse until it's too late."

What voter suppression of the kind documented in "Suppressed" comes down to is the killing of democracy - one state, one precinct, one vote at a time. And unless we fight it, it's not going to stop. With a morally bankrupt party in power, it will only get worse.

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'Suppressed: The Fight to Vote': Film Review

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In 2018, Stacey Abrams, having served in the Georgia House of Representatives for 10 years, ran as the Democratic candidate for governor of Georgia. She was the first African-American woman in the United States to be chosen as a gubernatorial nominee by one of the two major parties.

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Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

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Blackballed: The Black Vote and US Democracy

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Blackballed: The Black Vote and US Democracy

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Bookshop: Buy books online. Support local bookstores.

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Sorry, the page you’re looking for doesn’t seem to exist. If you’re looking for a specific book, you may find it by searching by title or author below:

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Includes lists for elementary, middle, and young adult students as well as adults.

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Includes a pledge to vote and voter registration links.

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Black to the Ballot registers, engages, and activates Black voters through our national voter registration drive.

We've partnered with 15 Black-led grassroots organizations in 9 states to register 10,000 new Black voters and get 50,000 people to pledge to vote. Check out our incredible partners:

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Black to the Ballot registers, engages, and activates Black voters through our national voter registration drive. We've partnered with 15 Black-led grassroots organizations in 9 states to register 10,000 new Black voters and get 50,000 people to pledge to vote. Check out our incredible partners:

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Volunteer to help mobilize black voters.

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Help Boost Black Voter Turnout.
Our Lives Depend on It.

Volunteer today. Call or text infrequent Black voters in October.
Make history on November 3.

​ ​ ​

Volunteer on your own or with a group. We'll provide tools, training, and resources for success.
Volunteer FAQ

2020 Black Battleground States

Black voter turnout in these 12 states could decide the 2020 presidential election.

Are you in one? We need your help.

Volunteers from all states are welcome. You can talk with infrequent Black voters in your area.
Sign up to volunteer

Alabama

Florida

Georgia

Michigan

Nevada

North Carolina

Ohio

Pennsylvania

South Carolina

Texas

Virginia

Wisconsin

Learn More About Black Battleground States

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the time commitment for volunteers?

You choose based on your availability - from a few minutes to a few hours per week. Activity will pick up as Election Day approaches

Is it safe to volunteer during the coronavirus pandemic?

Yes, you can call and/or text voters on your list.

We'll provide you with voters' names, landline and cell phone numbers, and addresses, if available.

What tools and resources does the NAACP have for volunteers?

Whether you've never volunteered to get out the vote before or you've done it many times, we have resources to help:

Talking points to motivate voters

Call center to refer voters to (or to call if you have questions)

Tools that make it easy to text your community

Opportunities to connect with other volunteers and share ideas

Support from your local NAACP branch

What's the benefit of signing up now instead of closer to Election Day on November 3?

We're planning ahead so we can increase turnout among Black voters as much as possible.

We can offer training and support to leaders like you in the months leading up to the election.

What positive difference can I make by talking to people I don't know?

Our voices must be heard. We want everybody in our community to participate in the election and we need your help in leading people to do so.

By talking with Black voters, you can increase turnout and make our voices heard at the ballot box.

You will have a lot in common with the voters on your list, including the hope for a better future, for equal economic opportunity, and for a society without racial discrimination.

Can I volunteer if I do not identify as Black?

Yes, you are welcome to volunteer with us.

Our goal is to increase Black community participation. We welcome everyone's participation that supports that goal.

Where can I go for more information?

Our volunteer website has additional information.

We also have a call center at 1-888-984-2510 (Mon - Fri) in case you have questions.

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Volunteer today. Call or text infrequent Black voters in October. Make history on November 3. ​ ​ ​ Volunteer on your own or with a group. We'll provide tools, training, and resources for success. Volunteer FAQ Black voter turnout in these 12 states could decide the 2020 presidential election.

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Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise

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Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise

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This documentary follows Henry Louis Gates, Jr. on a journey through the last 50 years