Voter suppression is the modern-day version of poll taxes. The idea that there is an “acceptable” level of voter suppression is antithetical to what it means to live in a pluralistic democracy with equal voting rights for all.
Pinochet's men accused of Letelier murder in 1978. Dick Cheney's hypocrisy in 2000. Reagan's racist dog-whistle in 1980. Dixiecrats defend the poll tax in 1948. Chicago Freedom Movement in 1966. Birth of a hero in 1848. Toxic-waste emergency in 1978.
Robert Peoples remembers when African Americans won the right to vote in Alabama back in 1965. More than 50 years after the passage of the Voting Rights Act, Robert Peoples cannot vote in the state of Alabama.
In nine states from Nevada to Tennessee, anyone who has lost been imprisoned and lost thier right to vote, cannot regain it until they pay off any outstanding court fines, legal fees and victim restitution. In Alabama, that requirement has fostered an underclass of thousands of people who are unable to vote because they do not have enough money.
Evelyn T. Butts and Joseph A. Jordan challenged Virginia's poll tax. The case made it to the US Supreme Court and in March 1966, Justices voted 6-3 to end the poll tax in all elections. Following the decision, African Americans were elected to state and local offices for the first time since Reconstruction.
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