Voters came out in record numbers for the 2018 midterms, and analysts with both parties predict turnout for the 2020 election could be unprecedented. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, That includes the Disability Rights section, where cases fell by about 50 percent from Obamas term. Under countywide voting schemes, voters are no longer assigned to a polling place in their local precinct and can instead cast their ballot at any polling location in the county. Across the state, 131 precinct polling places will be relocated. When access to the ballot is restricted, a wealthier, whiter and more mobile electorate is reflected at the polls, and certain politicians benefit more than others. You are at least 18 years of age (or will be by the date of the next election) You are not in prison or on parole for a felony conviction. The 2018 midterm elections did indeed have higher turnout than the 2014 midterms in McLennan county, though voting also surged more broadly across the state and nation. based in New Orleans. Heres what that means. Meanwhile, civil rights groups are warning an epidemic of polling place closures has swept 13 states, including several southern states with deep histories of racial voter suppression. First, as noted above, complying with the ADA is the correct thing to do, but the solution is not to close polling stations. Elections officials often hail moving toward vote centers a term for centralized polling locations as a cost-saving measure. In a February 2015 memo from Brian Kemp the former secretary of state for the state, and current governor counties were explicitly told in bold font that their polling decisions no longer needed to be cleared by the Department of Justice. Ms Warren said that the increase in closed polling stations shows the impact of the 2013 Supreme Court decision, which essentially struck down elements of the Voting Rights Act that required areas of the United States with a history of discrimination to attain pre-clearance for changes to voting access including, for example, the closure of polls. His bid was centred around climate change, The former governor of Colorado aimed to sell himself as an effective leader who was open to compromise, but failed to make a splash on the national stage, Ohio representative Tim Ryan ran on a campaign that hinged on his working class roots, though his messaging did not appear to resonate with voters, Democratic presidential hopeful billionaire and philanthropist Tom Steyer is a longtime Democratic donor, Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events, Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in, Please refresh your browser to be logged in, The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020, At least 1,688 polling places closed in southern US since 2013, Extra 20% off selected fashion and sportswear at Very, Get up to 10% off using the Booking.com app, Get 100 off bookings over 1500 with this Expedia discount code, Extra 20 off orders over 120 - AliExpress promo code, Get 15% off warehouse clearance using this eBay voucher code, Compare broadband packages side by side to find the best deal for you, Find the cheapest broadband deals from providers in your area, All you need to know about fibre broadband, Best Apple iPhone Deals in the UK June 2023, Compare iPhone contract deals and get the best offer this June, Compare the best mobile phone deals from the top networks and brands. The rush of poll closures in Texas cannot be attributed to any one policy. You do not have a specific time in which you must turn up. Thats according to a new report from the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, which analysed the closures that have occurred since the landmark Supreme Court Decision Shelby County v Holder in 2013, which slashed major protections in the Voting Rights Act. Overall, this is a very conservative part of the country, but with a large student population and growing number of blacks and Latinx voters, the Republican Party does not want high turnout in McLennan County. Even in those states that had elections by mail, voters had an option to drop off their ballots in-person by a certain time.Many states permitted voters who were in line by closing time to cast a ballot, but that provision also varied by jurisdiction. In other words, reducing the number of polling places makes it harder for minority voters to cast ballots keeping even some of the most determined voters from voting. The new report, released on Tuesday, found closures concentrated across the south and elsewhere including Arizona, including in states that could play an important role in the 2020 election to determine whether Donald Trump retains the presidency or loses out to a Democratic challenger. You May Register to Vote in California If: You are a United States citizen. Yes, I would like to receive emails from Washington Monthly. Cast your vote at your assigned polling place or polling station. "We did that for January 7th, for January 21st, we did it for tomorrow's election on the 29th and for a sheriff's election on March 10," County Executive Conway Belangia told . Closing a polling station for reasons of low turnout can have a discriminatory impact, activists say. States are closing polling places. 10 a.m. Polling stations are now open across Toronto for the mayoral byelection. But seven years ago, a supreme court ruling gutted this law and allowed these jurisdictions to operate without oversight, and now the previously mandatory racial-impact analysis is no longer performed. In Georgia, North Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, polling places were routinely closed without clear public notice, transparency or input from the community, according to the report. It turned out to be kind of a nightmare, she said, pointing to large areas of the county without a voting location. Bailao remains in second at 207,929. Polling stations across Newcastle will be open from 7am, and will close at 10pm. I think you're definitely onto something when you think that it might be a beginning of an effort to intimidate people, Hebert said. The closures could exacerbate Texass already chronically low voter turnout rates, to the advantage of incumbent Republicans. A White man was scared to death of Ralph Yarl. A little less than half of those occurred in one state alone, Texas, which closed 750 polling places in an effort to centralize voting. Some counties closed enough polling locations to violate Texas state law. The discovery serves as a stark reminder of how the U.S.'s entrenched racial wealth gap was born. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Brazoria county, south of Houston, closed almost 60% of its polling locations between 2012 and 2018, causing it to fall below the statutory minimum, along with another county. The countys election officials had claimed that scores of residents would have to use alternative polling places, miles away, because the seven sites are not wheelchair accessible and thus violate federal disabilities laws. The DOJs focus on polling place investigations is even more notable because other Justice Department civil rights enforcement activity is at a two-decade low. Long considered a Republican bastion, changing racial demographics in the state have caused leading Democrats to recast Texas as a potential swing state. Copyright 2023 | The American Prospect, Inc. | All Rights Reserved, The Alt-Labor Chronicles: Americas Worker Centers, South Carolina Closing Poll Stations Without Notice. Reducing access to the polls effectively reduces access to democracy for some of the most marginalized groups in the United States: voters of color, voters with disabilities and low-income voters. Were counting on you to support our work in this critical moment. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File), Minnesota (Poll openings range, but begin at 7:00 a.m.), Montana (Poll openings range, but begin at 7:00 a.m.), North Dakota (Poll openings range, but begin at 7:00 a.m.), A SIMPLE GUIDE TO MIDTERM ELECTIONS, HOW THEY AFFECT THE PRESIDENCY, AND MORE. Bishop, of the National Disability Rights Network, said that in many cases its much easier to resolve ADA-related issues than to find a new location. Polling places open at noon and close at 9 p.m. in all other counties. On a local level, the changes can be stark. In one case, the High Country News reported, the closings required Native American voters to travel 10 miles from their original location to reach the next-nearest voting station. 2 Polls close one hour later - when converting to Eastern Daylight Time - for the primaries in Arizona (except the Navajo Nation) and Hawaii.. Where indicated, polls close for those in the (E)astern Time Zone, (C)entral, (M)ountain, (P)acific, (A)laska, (H)awaii-Aleutian. Nationwide, nearly 21,000 polling stations have closed since 2016, a VICE News investigation has found. Civil rights leaders said a colorblind society is a conservative fantasy and schools must lift up students of color. Of the 757 counties studied in the report, 39 percent have reduced the number of polling places available to voters since 2012. Free online tools Democratic incumbents also benefit from gerrymandering, but as a whole the party is supportive of redistricting reform. Consolidated polling stations can cause long lines and multiply the effect of any election-related hiccups, such as technology problems or short staffing. By 2018 that figure had dropped to one polling place per 7,700 residents. About a quarter of Coconinos population is Native American, and while tribal buildings are normally not required to be ADA-compliant, once they become polling places, they fall under the law. Dogs and children are usually welcome at polling stations! The closures also tend to disproportionately impact communities of color, which have fewer resources to make polling stations ADA-compliant. You are a resident of California. New Hampshire Polls must open by 11:00 a.m. Oregon Polling times depend on the hours of operation of local municipal offices. Two nearby polling locations were closed, so this was where 16,000 Atlantans were slated to cast their ballots. DOJ prosecutions under the ADA often lead to settlement agreements that can mention remedial steps like building ramps or using alternative entrances, and an agreement to ensure polling places are compliant in the future. Where polling sites are located will significantly influence all voters ability to vote in the 2022 midterm elections and beyond and therefore, their ability to be fairly represented. A healthy party would respond to changing public opinion by evolving to meet the needs and desires of their constituents, but conservatives do not want to adjust so they spend more time figuring out how to keep people from voting than in learning how to better represent them. "Closing polling places has a cascading effect, leading to long lines at other polling places, transportation hurdles, denial of language assistance and other forms of in-person help, and. Over 100 polling places have closed in several key swing states this election cycle thanks . There is no language in recent DOJ settlement agreements requiring jurisdictions to close noncompliant polling places, though they do have the power to prevent closures. In urban areas of Dallas and Houston where people of color make up a majority of voters, local polls have been closed and replaced with centralized, countywide vote centers. Voters can cast their ballot at any vote center, rather than an assigned polling location, providing more flexibility. All rights reserved. Despite decades of opposition, the university still holds over 9,000 Native remains -- a source of grief for tribes. Election 2020 polling place opening closing time vote. Though the plan was defeated, Lincoln Countys proposal hints at other poll closures that are likely to affect marginalized voters in this falls midterm elections. See our privacy policy. Consolidating polling stations is a regular occurrence in South Carolina, and Greenville has already planned to do it for the first four elections of this year. Without this provision, states can now execute new voting laws and practices without any federal oversight beforehand. A look at which polls have been closed over the past few elections suggests that some jurisdictions are strategically closing locations used by voters of color to discourage them from voting. Sign up for our newsletter. The fact of the matter is that Texas is not a red state, said Antonio Arellano of Jolt, a progressive Latino political organization. What can you really say? A voter walks to cast a ballot at a drop box at an early voting polling location for the 2020 Presidential election in Miami, Florida, U.S., on Monday, Oct. 19, 2020. Pre-clearance identified jurisdictions with histories of racially discriminatory election practices, and required those states and counties to submit any proposed changes to election procedures to the Department of Justices Civil Rights Division to be evaluated for racially discriminatory effects before they could be put into action. The government and financial institutions would give employees the day off, encouraging other employers to do the same. Regular registered voters are unlikely to go online to confirm their polling location before every election. Republicans said the new voting restrictions were nonpartisan efforts to shore up election integrity and root out voter fraud. You do not need to bring your polling card with you in order to cast your vote. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. When polling places close or change location, it can be disruptive to anyone on a schedule particularly working people who may be juggling childcare and long hours on the job on Election Day. A statistical analysis of how Georgia polling locations changed from 2012 to 2018 estimates that increased distance to the polls prevented between 54,000 and 85,000 voters from casting ballots in the 2018 election. All rights reserved. He is also the writer and host of , To donate by check, phone, bitcoin, or other method, see our, Trump Demanded Lawyers Get Docs Back Even as They Told Him Indictment Was Coming, Ocasio-Cortez: Student Debt Decision Shows SCOTUS Rulings Are Up for Sale, Right-Wing Think Tank, Walmart Heirs Behind Latest Attack on Arkansas Teachers, DeSantis Transferred $92 Million to Project Helping Developer Who Donated to Him, Truthout Center for Grassroots Journalism, On Voting Rights, the US Is Behind Much of the World, Advocates for Racial Equity on Campus Say SCOTUS Ruling Wont Deter Their Fight, Supreme Court Kills Student Debt Relief, 1 Day After Slashing Affirmative Action. Second, in the balancing of values in the short term, i,e., ADA . Civil rights groups are currently pushing legislation in Congress that would restore the preclearance section of the Voting Rights Act at the federal level, but Young says the conversation must go deeper than that. McLennan county GOP chair Jon Ker called concerns about closures impacting turnout hogwash, saying that turnout was actually higher in his county after the number of voting locations dropped from 59 to 33. In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court rolled back a portion of the Voting Rights Act that required several jurisdictions, mainly in the Deep South, to obtain federal permission before changing how residents are allowed to vote. And without the Voting Rights Acts preclearance requirements, its difficult to know whether closures will have a discriminatory impact on voters of color. Your polling place is based on your residential address. Its a longstanding American tradition. Over the past several years, the state has voted reliably in favour of Republicans, but demographic changes including a rise in the Hispanic population has led to some speculation that the state could become a competitive swing state within the next several elections. Advertisement. Weve said it before: The greatest threat to democracy from the media isnt disinformation, its the paywall. Thanks to this partisan reality, Republican-fueled voter suppression continues nationwide. We never brought any lawsuits or took legal action against any jurisdiction regarding ADA issues and polling places.. A Guardian analysis based on that report confirms what many activists have suspected: the places where the black and Latinx population is growing by the largest numbers have experienced the vast majority of the states poll site closures. Greenville County closed down 52 precincts; most of those precincts will be consolidated and some will be shifted into temporary locations, but instead of 151 polling locations, Greenville County will have only 118. The opening and closing times for polling places in 2016 varied from state to state and in the District of Columbia. Because the DOJ does not often announce ongoing investigations, the completed cases they list on the website are likely a small proportion of all the municipalities they have looked into. Its targeted voter suppression. Voters are deciding whether to keep current Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, or hand power over to a different candidate. The best way to comply with the ADA, they argue, is to simply bring buildings up to code with wheelchair ramps and other improvements. The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights reports that in the 13 states that were previously covered by the VRAs pre-clearance provision, 1,688 polling locations were closed between 2012 and 2018. Ongoing research by University of Houston political scientists Jeronimo Cortina and Brandon Rottinghaus indicates that people are less likely to vote if they have to travel farther to do so, and the effect is disproportionately greater for some groups of voters, such as Latinxs. Augusta Chronicle 0:00 0:39 Lincoln County is trying to close all but one polling place for next year's elections, a move opposed by voting and civil rights groups. Your name will not be on the roster at any other location. Leafly Staff. 21 counties out of 249 do not have 2012 data, so 2014 figures were used instead. Councils across Manchester and the surrounding area, including Manchester City and Salford City Council, have seats that will be contested in the upcoming election. Most polling stations across Toronto close in five minutes. This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center. You might ask how is that in the year 2020? In a statement, Brazoria county clerk Joyce Hudman said the closures were inadvertent, and that this would not happen again in 2020. Smith says he recognizes the federal holiday marking Juneteenth as a symbol, but it is clearly not enough.. Still confused as to how to vote during . We Rule!' Market data provided by Factset. Fixes can sometimes be as simple as using orange cones to outline accessible parking spaces or improving signage. Get a weekly dose of our best stories in your inbox. We have hours left to raise the $12,000 we still need to keep Truthout whole. In fact, the post-Shelby voting rights battles follow a highly partisan formula. The closures effectively suppress the vote in those jurisdictions and create a national environment of fear among voting rights activists, the NDRN report noted.. The date for the next local election in Manchester is Thursday, 5 May 2022. The Guardian has investigated poll closures in Texas, and theyve found a clear pattern: Some counties closed enough polling locations to violate Texas state law. As long as you are registered you can go and cast your vote at any point within the given timeframe. Get the news you want, delivered to your inbox every day. Like most places around the country, including in and around the London area, polling stations are set to open at 7am, and will close at 10pm. The fallout of the Shelby decision was immediate. Brazoria county, south of Houston, closed almost 60% of its polling locations between 2012 and 2018, causing it to fall below the statutory minimum, along with another county. Our elections officials are supposed to defend and protect our democracy, said Sean J. Vermont (Poll openings range, but begin at 5:00 a.m.), Maine (Poll openings range, but begin at 6:00 a.m.), CRASH COURSE: THE BIG-TICKET ISSUES IMPACTING THE 2022 MIDTERM ELECTIONS FOR AMERICAN VOTERS, A Michigan voter inserts her absentee voter ballot into a drop box in Troy, Michigan on Oct. 15, 2020. However, claims of rampant voter fraud proved hugely overblown before evaporating completely, along with a short-lived commission to investigate the supposed problem established in 2017 by President Trump. Civil rights groups intervened, accusing officials of suppressing the Black vote in Kemps favor, and the plan was abandoned amid national controversy. But studies show that unless vote centers are equitably located, trading local neighborhood polling places for countywide vote centers could make it harder for some groups of voters to get to the polls and lower the likelihood that they will cast ballots. Its simply not true that the party would behave like Republicans if the shoe were on the other foot, and the proof is that there isnt any effort to figure out ways to selectively target the Republican vote in places where that would benefit the Democrats. We believe these threats to shut down polling sites violate both the Voting Rights Act and the Constitution, Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law,told NewsOne. The doors opened at 7:00 am (0400 GMT) while the first exit polls are expected at 7:00 pm (1600 . All Mail Ballot Election. (You can unsubscribe anytime). For Black boys, this isnt A Black man was dismembered. 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. (general elections); primary times vary by county [38] For primary elections, polling places open at 6 a.m. and close at 9 p.m. Eastern time in New York City and the counties of Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland, Orange, Putnam, and Erie. Since then, civil rights groups have been fighting to stem the steady erosion of voting rights. Hereare the times that polls openon Election Day (all times are local to the state). At least 1,688 polling places in the United States have been closed in the last six years, especially impacting minority communities across the American south. However, many states have been consolidating polling places, offering fewer sites for voting. We believe that polling place closures represent a modern-day version of the poll tax. These are trying times, and we need to raise $12,000 to keep publishing our uncorrupted, uncensored journalism. In some cases, more extensive work is necessary, such as changing the grade of a parking lot or entrance ramp. He pointed out that some precinct polling places were ADA-inaccessible. Many working-class voters dont have the luxury of extra hours to stand in line to vote. Brandon Gillespie is an associate editor at Fox News. In a first, House Democrats elected a Black leader. Polling stations are set to open throughout the day of the Bristol Mayor Referendum in 2022. This is absolutely not an accident. Among the 13 states that saw major polling closures are at least three states of particular interest, including Arizona, Texas, and Georgia. Please, become a member, or make a one-time donation, today. Plenty of research has shown that voting restrictions disproportionally impact lower-income voters and people of color who are more likely to lean Democratic and already face frequent obstacles to voting, such as long wait times at the polls. The answer to Youngs question can be found in that simple partisan math. Instead, many have been aggressively pushing poll closures in communities of color with phony pretexts.. Help us get essential knowledge into a world that needs revolution and healing make a tax-deductible donation today! Thank you! The Disability Rights section and the Justice Department really has not been involved in any of the disability discrimination issues that are relevant to this year, which are primarily about absentee voting, which is completely inaccessible to people who are blind, Hill said. Closing and consolidating polling sites are among the voter-suppression strategies that have gone unregulated since the 2013 Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder. The department sought to ensure that the changes did not hurt minority voters. Eve Hill, the former head of the Disability Rights Division at the Justice Department who left in 2017, said, I dont recall any [litigation] where we would reduce the number of polling places. Republicans are closing polling stations in areas of high minority population growth. Nationwide, nearly 21,000 polling stations have closed since 2016, a VICE News investigation has found. That especially discourages turnout among groups with less resources. Brittany Gibson is a former Prospect writing fellow who is now at Politico. Our staffing is fine for what weve got going on in the locations, provided we dont have any 50 percent turnout of registered voters we ought to be good, Belangia said. Those concerned with antisemitism must understand what it truly means to challenge it as part of movements for justice. I really dont believe that they would be seeking closures of polling places, Hill said. In 2012, there was one polling place for every 4,000 residents. Preliminary data shows that more than 90 percent of early voters cast in-person rather than mail-in ballots, which is likely due at least partly to the new laws restrictions on absentee voting. Now theyre being closed in nine states. From 2012 to 2016, for example, there was a drop of about 3,000 locations nationally. We did that for January 7th, for January 21st, we did it for tomorrows election on the 29th and for a sheriffs election on March 10, County Executive Conway Belangia told theProspect. The right is trying to make truth-telling about U.S. history illegal because it fears the end of white supremacy. Brazoria county, south of Houston, closed almost 60% of its polling locations between 2012 and 2018, . In the years since Shelby, weve learned exactly who these politicians are. As recently as March of this year, an election board proposed closing all but one polling place in Lincoln County, Ga. County residents mobilized against this proposal, arguing that doing so would hurt rural voters, since many county residents live over 20 miles from the proposed central polling location. Since 2016, President Trumps DOJ has initiated 23 Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) cases connected to polling-place accessibility since 2016, a big shift in emphasis for the Civil Rights Division under Trump and the two attorneys general who have served in his administration, Jeff Sessions and William Barr. According to a study from the civil rights group the Leadership Conference .