Your Rights at the Polls: Handling Voter Suppression and Intimidation

Oct 16, 2024

3 min read

by Terra Li and Irisa Teng

Voter suppression remains a serious issue in many elections, affecting millions of voters across the United States. Whether it’s through long wait times, misleading information, or outright intimidation, some individuals and groups attempt to prevent others from exercising their right to vote.

This post will guide you through what voter suppression and intimidation looks like, and what to do if you experience it on Election Day.

What is Voter Suppression?

Voter suppression refers to tactics designed to discourage or prevent certain groups of people from voting. Examples of voter suppression include:

Mass purging voter rolls without notice, resulting in voters showing up only to be told they’re not registered. According to AP News, in August 2024, an Alabama program designed to identify fraudulent voters rendered over 3,251 voters inactive. However, this program was overwhelmingly inaccurate, and by mid-October, over 2,000 voter accounts were restored after they provided proof of citizenship. Federal judge Anna Monasco stated that the decision to send thousands of innocent voters to be criminal investigation caused “irreparable harm.”
Creating strict voter ID laws, making it harder for people without easy access to specific identification to vote. This process dates to the mid-1900s, before the Voting Rights Act of 1965. An example of a strict voter ID law would be a law that requires Americans to bring government-issued photo IDs to the polls. According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), this is inherently discriminatory, as obtaining a government-issued photo ID incurs high fees (including travel, document fees, and waiting time). This in turn reduces voter turnout as American-born citizens feel discouraged from voting due to logistical problems.
Imposing arbitrary regulations, criminalizing voters performing certain unrelated acts near polling locations. According to CNN, in 2021, Georgia passed a law that prohibited people from providing food and water to voters within 150 feet of a polling station or within 25 feet of a voter. A federal judge partially blocked this ban in 2023, citing that the 25 foot “Supplementary Zone” was unclarified and overly vague. In the same law, Georgia required voters to write their birthdays outside the ballot envelope, which the federal judge also struck down. “Given the evidence presented, the Court is simply not persuaded that eliminating the Birthdate Requirement risks introducing fraudulent ballots or threatens election integrity,” said US District Judge J.P. Boulee. That is frequently the case with excessive, arbitrary regulations.
Shortening polling location open times or changing polling locations in predominantly minority areas, leading to confusion and longer wait times. This discriminates against impoverished families, as parents or older siblings working multiple part-time jobs do not have the free time to travel far distances or rework their schedules to make short open and close times.

What is Voter Intimidation?

Federal law prohibits “attempts to intimidate, threaten, or coerce, any other person for the purpose of interfering with the right of such other person to vote or to vote as he may choose.”

From ACLU, examples of voter intimidation include:

Aggressively questioning voters
Spreading misinformation about voter requirements
Impersonating an election official
Physically blocking polling places
Harassing voters
Looking over people's shoulders as they are voting
Photographing or videotaping voters without their consent
Harassment targeted towards racial minorities

Campaign Legal offers some solutions to combatting voter intimidation. While there may not be much you can do when you notice voter suppression occurring, as suppression is performed by state laws, there are steps you can take when you identify voter intimidation.

De-escalate the situation and remove yourself if unsafe. Your vote is important, but if you can find a different entrance to a polling location or come back a different time of day, choose your safety first.
Report to your local election official. If you are in a state that has voter intimidation laws, you can report suspicious activity to your local election official to handle. You can find your local election official on USA.gov.
Call the Election Protection Hotline: 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683). These are trained professionals who can give you instructions and help you protect your vote. Non-English options are also available:
- Spanish: 888-VE-Y-VOTA
- Arabic: 844-YALLA-US
- Asian Languages: 888-API-VOTE