Seniors: How Voting Laws Could Discount Seniors at the Polls
If you are a senior citizen, your right to vote in the upcoming elections may be under attack. Across the county, misguided state legislatures are proposing and passing laws that would add unnecessary obstacles to your ability to cast your ballot.
New obstacles to the ballot box include: requiring voters to present unnecessary government-issued photo identification in order to vote; cutting early voting opportunities; and ending same-day voter registration voting.
Studies indicated that these laws disproportionately impacts elderly Americans. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, while 11% of all Americans lack state issued photo IDs, an estimated 18% of American citizens age 65 and above lack state-issued photo IDs. Based on census data, this means more than 6 million eligible seniors would not be allowed to vote. That’s more than the populations of Delaware, South Dakota, Alaska North Dakota, Vermont, Wyoming, and Montana, combined.
In 2011 alone, 34 states have introduced voter suppression legislation, with laws passing in more than a dozen.
Why Don’t They Want You to Vote?
They don’t want you to vote is because your vote matters. Seniors have always played a critical role in deciding elections. But, with cuts to so many of the social service programs that are vital to the lives of so many elderly Americans on the chopping block, they don’t want you to exercise your voice at the ballot box.
Don’t let politicians bully you out of your right to vote.
Register to vote now. You have a right to have your voice heard to Election Day.
If you are already registered join the fight to help ensure your friends and neighbors don’t have their right to vote taken away.