upwards of $1,000 for registering their students to vote.
The NAACP views these actions as fostering an atmosphere that promotes voter suppression leading into the 2012 election.
Nineteen new laws and two executive orders in 14 states will make it harder to vote, according to a new study by the Brennan Center for Justice.
These new voter restrictions will disproportionately impact young, minority and low-income voters. It is estimated more than 5 million eligible voters will find it more difficult to vote and this could change the outcome of the of the 2012 election.
Some restrictions have included tougher voter ID laws, creating obstacles to getting ID, intimidating voter registration groups, eliminating same-day registration, eliminating early voting, banning felons from voting, cutting election administration budgets, improperly purging registered voters, arresting Black people who win elections, and arresting Black people who register people to vote.
So far at least, 34 U.S. states introduced legislation that would require voters to show photo identification in order to vote, a trend that began in Georgia in 2005.
Twelve states have introduced legislation that would require proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate, to register or vote.
Thirteen states introduced bills to end same-day voter registration, limit voter registration mobilization efforts, and reduce other registration opportunities. Nine states introduced bills to reduce their early voting periods, and four tried to reduce absentee voting opportunities.
Florida and Iowa has made it difficult for people with past felony convictions to restore their voting right. This will affect hundreds of thousands of voters.
“It’s all about power, everything you have heard about voter suppression, voter ID, and redistricting. They want to take your power because once you exercise [your vote], as the Quitman Ten Plus Two have done, it means you have taken back your power. It’s about controlling that money, because all the school boards have control over a lot of money. They don’t want us to have control of that money, whether you are a city mayor, county commissioner, local school board member, or a state representative. It’s all about money and power,” Helen Butler, GCPA executive director said.
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