M5: The Fight To Vote
As we enter Election Day, changing our routines to fit voting into our day, sometimes questioning whether it’s worth it, we look back at the history of voting rights and just how much people sacrificed so we can freely walk into a polling station and cast our votes. While it doesn’t seem like much now, we can all be thankful for the system we have that respects all Americans and their vote.
(FULL TRANSCRIPT OF EPISODE BELOW)
Listen To Full Episode:
Or, Listen Where You Get Your Podcasts:
Read Full Episode Transcript:
M5: THE FIGHT TO VOTE
VOTING CAN BE A REAL PAIN. ON A TUESDAY IN THE FALL, WE’RE ENCOURAGED BY EVERY PERSON WE MEET AND EVERY TALKING HEAD ON THE PLANET TO BREAK UP OUR ROUTINE, GO OUT OF OUR WAY TO A POLLING STATION, AND STAND IN LINE…JUST SO WE CAN VOTE, AND THEN GET REWARDED WITH A LITTLE STICKER THAT GOES ON OUR SHIRT THAT SAYS WE DID A GOOD JOB. BEFORE WE KNOW IT, IT’S OVER. WE WALK OUTSIDE. THERE’S NO INSTANT GRATIFICATION – NO OBVIOUS CONCLUSION…. WE SHRUG IT OFF AND WE GET TO GO ON WITH OUR DAY.
TOMORROW IS ELECTION DAY…AND IF YOU HAPPEN TO REACH A MOMENT OF PAUSE…AS THE BURDENS OF WORK AND LIFE PILE UP AROUND YOU…AND YOU BEGIN CONTEMPLATING IF STANDING IN LINE AT YOUR POLLING STATION IS THE BEST USE OF YOUR TIME…. CONSIDER, JUST FOR A SECOND, THE RESPECT YOU’VE BEEN SHOWN BY HAVING THE RIGHT TO VOTE… BECAUSE IF YOU REMEMBER, AT ONE TIME, NOT LONG AGO, AMERICA WAS PUSHED TO THE BREAKING POINT BY PEOPLE FIGHTING FOR RESPECT….FOR THE RIGHT TO SIMPLY BE ALLOWED TO STAND IN LINE AND HAVE THEIR VOTE COUNT.
EPISODE
WHEN AMERICA WAS FIRST SETTLED…THE STATES LIMITED VOTING TO JUST WHITE MALE CHRISTIAN LANDOWNERS OVER THE AGE OF 21.
IT WASN’T UNTIL AFTER THE CIVIL WAR, IN 1868, WHEN THE 14TH AMENDMENT WAS PASSED, GRANTING CITIZENSHIP TO ALL PEOPLE “BORN OR NATURALIZED” IN THE UNITED STATES, THAT THE PROSPECT OF A LARGER POOL OF VOTERS BEGAN TO TAKE SHAPE. TWO YEARS LATER, THE 15TH AMENDMENT MARKED THE FIRST TIME BLACK MEN WERE ALLOWED TO VOTE…HOWEVER, THIS WAS THE BEGINNING OF THE JIM CROW ERA, WHEN STATES AND LOCAL JURISDICTIONS PASSED LAWS TO CIRCUMVENT THE FREEDOMS GRANTED BY THE 14TH AND 15TH AMENDMENTS IN ORDER TO SUPRESS THE BLACK VOTE. INTIMIDATION TACTICS AND VIOLENCE IN THE FORM OF RACE RIOTS, MOBS, AND LYNCHINGS ENSUED.
AROUND THE SAME TIME, WOMEN WERE IN A FIGHT FOR THEIR RIGHT TO VOTE. THE SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT WAS SLOW AND STEADY, WITH WOMEN WRITING, LECTURING, MARCHING, PROTESTING, AND LOBBYING FOR EIGHTY YEARS BEFORE HAVING THEIR VOICES HEARD. ACTIVISTS LIKE SUSAN B. ANTHONY AND ELIZABETH CADY STANTON WERE AT THE CENTER OF THE FORMALIZED FIGHT FOR WOMEN’S VOTING RIGHTS…AND THEY MADE PROGRESS IN SOME STATES…BUT IT TOOK DECADES BEFORE THEY SAW ANY REAL PROGRESS ON A NATIONAL LEVEL.
FINALLY, AFTER RELENTLESS PROTESTING AND ACTIVISM, THE 19TH AMENDMENT WAS FINALLY PASSED IN 1920, GRANTING WOMEN THEIR RIGHT.
SOON AFTER, IN 1924, NATIVE AND ASIAN AMERICANS JOINED WOMEN WITH ACCESS TO VOTING BOOTHS.
THROUGH ALL OF THIS, THE JIM CROW LAWS REMAINED – BUT IN 1940, THE NAACP’S THURGOOD MARSHALL CHALLENGED ONE OF THE LAWS, TEXAS’S ALL-WHITE PRIMARIES, AT THE SUPREME COURT. IN SMITH VS. ALLWRIGHT, THE SUPREME COURT RULED 8-1 THAT TEXAS’S ALL-WHITE PRIMARY SYSTEM WAS UNCONSITUTIONAL.
WHILE THIS WAS A SINGLE VICTORY, CHANGE IS SLOW. SOUTHERN STATES DUG IN ON THEIR POLICIES AND IT ALL CAME TO A HEAD IN THE 1960’S. IN EARLY 1965, DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. LED A MARCH FROM SELMA, ALABAMA TO THEIR STATE CAPITAL OF MONTGOMERY TO PROTEST THE POLICIES AIMED TO SUPRESS THE BLACK VOTE. WHILE THERE WAS GREAT BLOODSHED WHICH INTERRUPTED THE TRIP TO MONTGOMERY, WHAT HAPPENED CAPTURED THE ATTENTION OF THE NATION, AND LATER THAT YEAR, THE 1965 VOTING RIGHTS ACT WAS PASSED IN CONGRESS, FEDERALLY CEMENTING CIVIL VOTING RIGHTS FOR ALL QUALIFIED AMERICANS AND LIMITING WHAT STATES COULD DO TO CURTAIL THOSE RIGHTS.
VOTING RIGHTS WERE THEN OPENED TO MORE PEOPLE OF DIFFERENT LANGUAGES AND DISABILITIES. IN THE EARLY 1970’S, SOLDIERS BETWEEN THE AGES OF 18 AND 21 WHO WERE SENT TO VIETMAN TO FIGHT FOR THEIR COUNTRY, ALSO FOUGHT FOR THEIR RIGHT TO CAST A BALLOT, AND IN 1971, THE 26TH AMENDMENT LOWERED THE VOTING AGE TO 18.
GENERALLY SPEAKING, THE SIXTIES WELL THROUGH THE TURN OF THE CENTURY, MARKED THE OPENING OF RIGHTS, ENSURING MORE AND MORE AMERICANS HAD CONSTITUTIONAL AND FAIR ACCESS TO VOTING.
HOWEVER, IN 2013, THE SUPREME COURT, IN SHELBY COUNTY VS. HOLDER, STRUCK A BLOW TO THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT. STATES WERE NO LONGER MANDATED TO SUBMIT CHANGES TO VOTER LAWS, WHICH CEDED FULL CONTROL BACK TO THE STATES TO MANAGE THEIR VOTING RULES ON A STATE AND LOCAL LEVEL.
THIS DECISION ALLOWED STATES TO CREATE MORE BARRIERS TO VOTING, AND AS WE STAND TODAY, THERE IS TUG-OF-WAR WITHIN STATE CAPITOLS AND LOCAL MUNICIPALITIES, BETWEEN THOSE WISHING TO CURTAIL CERTAIN VOTING RIGHTS FOR CERTAIN GROUPS, AND THOSE WISHING TO EXPAND THEM. THIS BACK AND FORTH HAS PROVEN TO BE AN AMERICAN TRADITION THAT I IMAGINE WE’LL ALWAYS HAVE IN SOME FORM OR ANOTHER.
YOU KNOW, IF I’M GOING TO BE HONEST, I THINK I’VE ALWAYS TAKEN MY RIGHT TO VOTE FOR GRANTED. IT WAS A GIFT THAT WAS HANDED TO ME…AND WHEN IT WAS, I WASN’T PAYING MUCH ATTENTION. AS I ROLLED THROUGH MY TWENTIES AND THIRTIES, I USED TO THINK OF VOTING AS SOMETHING I WAS SUPPOSED TO DO… A CIVIC DUTY…. BUT NOW I REALIZE THAT VOTING IN AN ELECTION IS MORE OF A CIVIC ENDOWMENT…AN IMPERATIVE – IN FACT…IT’S THE ONE REAL THING I GET TO DO TO AFFIRM THE UNDAUNTED CONCEPT OF AMERICA.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage_in_the_United_States
https://www.carnegie.org/our-work/article/voting-rights-timeline/
https://www.history.com/news/voting-rights-timeline