If you’re awealthy parent and you have an unexpected errand, the nanny will watch thekids. If you’re poor, it’s leave thekids home alone or don’t run the errand. If you’re wealthy, you can take a few hours ofunpaid leave and it’s no problem. Ifyou’re poor, it could get you fired.
But what ifthe “errand” is voting?We all knowabout the long lines at some polling places on election day – and sometimeswell into election night. But the burdenwas not spread equally.
Accordingto apoll for the AFL-CIO by Hart Research Associates, only nine percent ofwhite voters had to wait for more than 30 minutes to vote. But 22 percent of African American voters hadto wait that long. And the figure roseto 24 percent for Hispanic voters.
SinceAfrican American and Hispanic voters are more likely to be low income voters,the burden of waiting fell heaviest on those least likely to be able to affordit. So if time is money, are those longlines a form of poll tax?
The lineswere only one example of voter suppression efforts aimed at the poor andminorities. The best known are Voter ID laws. But there were others, as AFJ’s Isaiah Castilla noted on our Bolder Advocacy blog this week. And it’s not over yet. There are questions about whether Latinovotes arebeing properly counted in key races in Arizona.
It’s widelyexpected that, during this term, the Supreme Court will hear a challenge to akey provision of one of the most important protections for minority voters –the Voting Rights Act of 1965. [UPDATE: 4:17PM: The Supreme Court just announced it will, in fact, hear such a challenge]. Opponentsof the Act say that nearly 50 years after its passage it’s no longerneeded. But those long lines at thepolls, and all the other problems, are important reminders that while all of usare created equal, at the polling station some still are more equal thanothers.
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder