Voter Suppression

Definition

Voter suppression refers to strategies, legal or illegal, used to prevent eligible voters from exercising their right to vote.

Analogy

Imagine you're trying to get into a concert but the bouncer keeps changing the rules about what ID you need, where you can stand in line, and even closes the doors early. That's like voter suppression - constantly shifting barriers that make it hard for certain people to vote.

Related terms

Poll Taxes: A tax levied on every adult without reference to income or resources. Historically in the US, they were used as a form of voter suppression against African Americans and poor whites.

Literacy Tests: These were designed ostensibly to determine whether voters could read before they were allowed to vote. However, they were often used discriminatorily in Southern states of America during Jim Crow era as a means of voter suppression.

Gerrymandering: The practice of manipulating boundaries of an electoral constituency so as to favor one party or class.