Abolishing the electoral college and broadening voter-registration opportunities are among numerous policy changes recommended by the National Urban League in its 2019 “State of Black America” report, an annual document that this year focuses on protecting voting rights.
The report, titled “Getting 2 Equal: United Not Divided,” contends that a combination of meddling by Russia and domestic actions by state legislatures and judges are racially motivated attempts to suppress voting among Black Americans.
“Our rights are under attack by forces that are clever, sinister, diabolical and intentional, and their allies run from the Supreme Court of the United States, to state legislatures all across the nation and around the globe, to allies inside the Russian Federation,” wrote NUL president and CEO Marc H. Morial.
The Brennan Center for Justice, a partner in producing the new report, said 25 states have added voting restrictions since 2010, including 14 states with more restrictive voter identification laws in place, 12 with laws making it harder for citizens to register, seven that reduced early-voting opportunities and three states that made it harder to restore voting rights for people with past criminal convictions.
Brett Shafer, social media analyst and communications officer for the German Marshal Fund’s Alliance for Securing Democracy – another report partner – suggested that rising power among Black voters has caused anxiety among Whites and is being exploited by foreign saboteurs.
“The anonymity and audience segmentation baked into online social networks has allowed Russia’s online provocateurs to nimbly insinuate themselves into Black activist communities, where they can, in their own words, ‘effectively aggravate the conflict between minorities and the rest of the population,’” Shafer wrote.
Morial described the developments as racist attempts at suppression that have “coincided with a surge in the diversification of the electorate,” noting that the 2020 electorate is projected to be 66.7 percent White, down from 76.4 percent White in 2000.
