Systemic Racism in U.S. Elections
Jonathan Lancelot
Principal Policy Analyst
Election Infrastructure and National Security
Dennis Mema
Election Technology Policy Analyst
Executive Summary
This policy briefing is designed to explicate systemic racism within U.S. elections, and the persistent use of flawed technology that disenfranchises Black voters in states across the country.
In the wake of the Georgia Primary, where news of a disproportionate amount of disenfranchisement of minority voters began to stir a broader conversation, a national discussion on the weakened condition of our electoral process can no longer be ignored.
In this paper, we assess how systemic racism permeates nearly every aspect of how elections are conducted, and negatively impacts Black voters from all angles. From felony disenfranchisement, voter roll purges, and voter ID laws, to implicit bias from election administrators and poll workers themselves, Black voters are facing disproportionately higher challenges to vote than all other Americans.
The problem here is multi-pronged, making the solution similar in scope; there is not one single switch that can be flipped in order to solve the problem. Solutions will have to involve holding those who create election rules and regulations accountable for their actions, and ensuring that actions of election administrators and workers are not disproportionately impacting Black voters at least, and any Indigenous and other people of color for that matter.
We must also work to address the implicit biases within each of ourselves, and acknowledge the impact that it may have on voting technology, and the policies around casting one’s ballot. For our part at the Institute, we have made our position and our commitment known. To that extent, this paper is a first “deliverable” on our commitment because no solutions are even conceivable until we first identify and recognize the problems.
We believe the situation is straight forward enough: If the election system is not working for Black voters, it is not working at all. The use of digital voting machinery that is not
verifiable, accurate, secure, and transparent;
ethically certifiable; and
vulnerable to cyber-attacks that can exploit weaknesses in the system
…places our democracy at risk. And in fact, the administration of elections in some part of this nation was already biased due to the historical genealogy of voting rights and racism, which is the nexus of the disenfranchisement experienced today.
Without taking a step back, and realizing that Black voters are facing so many more challenges than others, it’s easy to assume that elections are colorblind. After all, our democracy is based on the idea of one person, one vote. However, this has yet to be the case when it comes to the Black population of the United States, and only by acknowledging that, can we begin work as a whole to find a solution.
