Editing Voter suppression (section)

===United States===
{{main|Voter suppression in the United States}}
In the [[United States]], elections are administered locally (though with many election rules set by states and the federal government), and forms of voter suppression vary among jurisdictions. When the country was founded, the right to vote in most states was limited to property-owning white males.<ref name="Carroll2003">Bret Carroll. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=c5t2AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA89 American Masculinities: A Historical Encyclopedia]''. SAGE Publications; 14 October 2003. {{ISBN|978-1-4522-6571-1}}. p. 89.</ref> Over time, the right to vote was granted to racial minorities, women, and youth.<ref name="Rivers2012">Christina Rivers. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=q-666oIQaQUC&pg=PA148 The Congressional Black Caucus, Minority Voting Rights, and the U.S. Supreme Court]''. University of Michigan Press; 17 July 2012. {{ISBN|0-472-11810-2}}. pp. 146–48.</ref><ref name="Macbain-Stephens2006">Jennifer Macbain-Stephens. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=eB6sDQIBUdoC Women's Suffrage: Giving the Right to Vote to All Americans]''. Rosen Classroom; January 2006. {{ISBN|978-1-4042-0869-8}}.</ref><ref name="Amendments1970">United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=-acTAAAAIAAJ Lowering the voting age to 18: Hearings, Ninety-first Congress, second session]''. U.S. Govt. Print. Off. 1970.</ref>

In the late 19th and the early 20th centuries, Southern states passed [[Jim Crow laws]] to suppress poor and racial minority voters that involved [[Poll tax (United States)|poll taxes]], [[literacy tests]], and [[grandfather clauses]].<ref name="Johnson2010">Kimberley Johnson. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=dnfNBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT97 Reforming Jim Crow: Southern Politics and State in the Age Before Brown]''. Oxford University Press; 16 April 2010. {{ISBN|978-0-19-988904-4}}. p. 97.</ref><ref name="Klarman2004">Michael J. Klarman. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=WWl0aWMSWSMC&pg=PA70 From Jim Crow to Civil Rights: The Supreme Court and the Struggle for Racial Equality]''. Oxford University Press; 5 February 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-19-535167-5}}. p. 70.</ref><ref name="Hazen2004">Walter Hazen. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=64PxCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA38 The Civil War to the Jim Crow Laws: American Black History]''. Milliken Publishing Company; 1 September 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-7877-2730-7}}. p. 38.</ref> Most of those voter suppression tactics were made illegal after the enactment of the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]]. Even after the repeal of those statutes, there have been repeated incidents of racial discrimination against voters, especially in the South. For example, 87,000 people in Georgia were unable to vote in 2018 because of late registration. Many of the strictest voting regulations are in swing states and have been enacted primarily by [[U.S. Republican Party]] politicians.<ref name="caputo et al">{{Cite web|author1=Angela Caputo |author2=Geoff Hing |author3=Johnny Kauffman|title=A Georgia law prevented 87,000 people from voting last year. And it could have a big impact in 2020|url=https://www.apmreports.org/story/2019/10/28/georgia-voting-deadlines-2020-election|access-date=2020-10-07|website=www.apmreports.org}}</ref> According to [[American Public Media|AMP]] Reports, many people who were predicted to be in favor of voting for the [[U.S. Democratic Party]] had their ballot dismissed. The study's analysis noted, "A disproportionate number of those potential voters were people of color or young voters, groups that typically favor Democrats."<ref name="caputo et al"/> The history of the previous Jim Crow regulations in the Southern states affects the voter suppression today because minorities often have their vote dismissed by the manipulation of voting regulations.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Constitutional Rights Foundation|url=https://www.crf-usa.org/black-history-month/race-and-voting-in-the-segregated-south|access-date=2020-10-07|website=www.crf-usa.org}}</ref>

One analysis of a Florida election in 2012 found that 200,000+ people did not vote because of long lines.<ref name="Powers">{{cite news |last=Powers |first=Scott |author2=David Damron |date=January 29, 2013 |title=Analysis: 201,000 in Florida didn't vote because of long lines |newspaper=[[Orlando Sentinel]] |location=Orlando, Florida |url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2013/01/29/analysis-201000-in-florida-didnt-vote-because-of-long-lines/ |access-date=2016-02-26}}</ref> Some Floridians were forced to wait 6–7 hours to vote.<ref name=":5"/>

In 2013, after the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] struck down Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, several states enacted [[voter ID]] laws. Some argue that such laws amount to voter suppression against African-Americans.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Childress|first1=Sarah|title=With Voting Rights Act Out, States Push Voter ID Laws|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/with-voting-rights-act-out-states-push-voter-id-laws/|work=FRONTLINE|publisher=PBS|date=June 26, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Childress|first1=Sarah|title=Supreme Court Strikes Blow to Voting Rights Act: What's Next?|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/supreme-court-strikes-blow-to-voting-rights-act-whats-next/|work=FRONTLINE|publisher=PBS|date=June 25, 2013}}</ref>

In Texas, a voter ID law requiring a driver's license, passport, military identification, or gun permit was repeatedly found to be intentionally discriminatory. However, the DOJ expressed support for Texas's ID law.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/a-court-strikes-down-texass-voter-id-law-for-the-fifth-time/537792/|title=A Court Strikes Down Texas's Voter ID Law For the Fifth Time|date=August 24, 2017|website=The Atlantic}}</ref> A similar ID law in North Dakota, which would have disenfranchised many [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]], was also overturned.<ref name="nprvote">{{cite web |website=NPR |date=August 2, 2016 |title=As November Approaches, Courts Deal Series Of Blows To Voter ID Laws |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/08/02/488392765/as-november-approaches-courts-deal-series-of-blows-to-voter-id-laws}}</ref>

In Wisconsin, a federal judge found that the state's restrictive voter ID law had led to "real incidents of disenfranchisement, which undermine rather than enhance confidence in elections, particularly in minority communities."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://hyp.is/Mrc_rAC9EeiVTFMDt_YwQA/elections.wi.gov/sites/default/files/news/petersonruling_pdf_14890.pdf|title=Case: 3:15-cv-00324-jdp Document #: 234 In the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin|access-date=January 23, 2018}}</ref> Since there was no evidence of widespread voter impersonation in Wisconsin, it found that the law was "a cure worse than the disease". In addition to imposing strict voter ID requirements, the law reduced [[Early voting#United States|early voting]], required people to live in a ward for at least 28 days before voting, and prohibited emailing absentee ballots to voters.<ref name="nprvote" />

Other controversial measures include shutting down [[Department of Motor Vehicles]] (DMV) offices in minority neighborhoods, which makes it more difficult for residents to obtain voter IDs;<ref>{{cite web |website=CNN |title=DOT launches investigation in Alabama over DMV closures |date=December 9, 2015 |url=http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/09/politics/alabama-dmv-closures-voting-rights/index.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |website=Esquire |title=The State of Alabama Has Fully Lost Its Mind |date=April 12, 2017 |url=http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a54465/alabama-bentley-resign-church-police/}}</ref> shutting down polling places in minority neighborhoods;<ref>{{cite web |website=The Nation |title=There Are 868 Fewer Places to Vote in 2016 Because the Supreme Court Gutted the Voting Rights Act |date=November 4, 2016 |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/there-are-868-fewer-places-to-vote-in-2016-because-the-supreme-court-gutted-the-voting-rights-act/}}</ref> systematically depriving precincts in minority neighborhoods of the resources needed to operate efficiently, such as poll workers and voting machines;<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |title=Long Lines at Minority Polling Places |date=September 24, 2014 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/25/opinion/long-lines-at-minority-polling-places.html?_r=1}}</ref> and purging voters from the rolls shortly before an election.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |title=Ruling Preserves Voting Rights for Thousands in North Carolina |date=November 4, 2016 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/05/us/north-carolina-voting-rights.html?_r=0}}</ref>

Often, voter fraud is cited as a justification for such laws even if the incidence is low. In Iowa, lawmakers passed a strict voter ID law with the potential to disenfranchise 260,000 voters. Out of 1.6 million votes cast in Iowa in 2016, there were only 10 allegations of voter fraud, none of which being cases of impersonation that a voter ID law could have prevented. Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, the architect of the bill, stated "we've not experienced widespread voter fraud in Iowa".<ref>{{cite web |website=The Nation |title=Iowa's New Voter-ID Law Would Have Disenfranchised My Grandmother |date=April 13, 2017 |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/iowas-new-voter-id-law-would-have-disenfranchised-my-grandmother/}}</ref>

In May 2017, US President [[Donald Trump]] established the [[Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity]] for the purpose of preventing voter fraud. Critics have suggested its true purpose is voter suppression. The commission was led by Kansas Secretary of State [[Kris Kobach]], a staunch advocate of strict voter ID laws and a proponent of the Crosscheck system. Crosscheck is a national database, which is designed to check for voters who are registered in more than one state by comparing names and dates of birth. Researchers at Stanford University, the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, and Microsoft found that for every legitimate instance of double registration it finds, Crosscheck's algorithm returns approximately 200 false positives.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=June 30, 2017 |title=How Trump's nationwide voter data request could lead to voter suppression |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/06/30/how-trumps-nationwide-voter-data-request-could-lead-to-voter-suppression/}}</ref> Kobach has been repeatedly sued by the [[American Civil Liberties Union]] (ACLU) for trying to restrict voting rights in Kansas.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |date=June 13, 2017 |title=The Man Behind Trump's Voter-Fraud Obsession |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/13/magazine/the-man-behind-trumps-voter-fraud-obsession.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url= https://theintercept.com/2016/10/27/voter-suppression-is-the-real-election-scandal/ |title=Voter Suppression is the Real Election Scandal| work=[[The Intercept]]|date= October 27, 2016| author=Speri, Alice}}</ref>