The cornerstone of a Democracy is the ability to vote. Voting is every citizen’s voice, and is the
civic responsibility of all eligible voters. Free and fair elections are the foundations of a healthy
Democracy, and many have died for this right.
In 2020, voting is under siege, and President Trump has made the decision to suppress voting
by making it harder to vote. During the primary in Texas during the coronavirus, hundreds of
poll locations were eliminated and there was one polling location left for 200,000 voters in the
Black community. Not only was it impossible for many Blacks to vote, the location was forced to
close early.
It is obvious that this is not fair, but the Presidential election will be blatantly corrupt, and there
will be no action too low for Trump and his team. From the very beginning of President Trump’s
administration, he has never told the truth, and everyone on his team will be looking for dirt on
Joe Biden.
“The Voting Rights Act was signed 55 years ago and this August, largely in response to the non-
violent civil rights demonstrations of the early 1960s to address centuries of racial injustice.
During the iconic march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital in Montgomery, the
American public witnessed the savage beating of Rep. John Lewis and other Black citizens who
were simply asking for the rights guaranteed by the 14 th and 15 th amendment,” says Sydney
Tellez – Associate Director, Common Cause New Mexico.
This battle for American voting rights has always been nasty, corrupt, and unfair, and started
with the signing of the constitution. It never mattered your gender, your race, or what country
you came from, White superiority, White manhood, power and money were always the
defining characteristics to vote in America.
Things have changed in America with protest, demonstrations and laws. The restrictions to
prevent Americans to vote have ended with the elimination of poll taxes, literacy test, hiding
poll locations, and impossible voter identification requirements.
But in 2020, it appears that some of the same problems with voting rights have resurfaced, and
many Republicans, starting with our president may refuse to follow the rule of law. Many of the
governors have started purging the voter rolls in their state, and changing the voting locations
at the last moment. Voting is under siege, and Republicans will suppress the vote by any means
necessary.
“Even as we sit here, there are those in power who are doing their darnedest to discourage
people from voting. By closing polling locations, by targeting minorities and students with
restrictive ID laws, and attacking our voting rights with surgical precision, even undermining the
Postal Service in the run-up to an election that’s going to be dependent on mail-in ballots so
people don’t get sick,” President Obama said during the ceremony at Rep. John Lewis funeral in
Atlanta, Georgia.
The 2020 presidential election will be a challenge for everyone in America. With Covid-19
everyone is scared and there could be an outbreak at any of the early poll locations. Safety is on
everyone’s mind, and it will take money, resources and well thought out plans, for residents to
vote.
During Ex-President Obama eulogy for Rep. John Lewis he called for, “Automatic voter
registration, and including voting for former inmates, who earned their second chance.” He said
polling places and early voting should be expanded, and Election Day should be made a national
holiday.
The fight for free and fair elections will continue, and hopefully more young people will be
engaged, and vote.
“The election of 2016 was a wakeup call. Voters were threatened and given false information.
Hundreds of thousands of voters were purged from the rolls all over the country. People who
had voted for decades were turned away from the polls. What happened? It was the first
election in over 50 years without the protection of the Voter Rights Acts,” said Rep. John Lewis.
Can President Donald Trump suppress the 2020 presidential election?
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