As per usual, the right to vote is under attack. 

Voter roll purges, an often flawed and discriminatory process wherein election officials delete names from voter registration lists, are ramping up across the United States. As of mid-September, at least three dozen cases related to the maintenance of voter rolls are pending in 19 different states. Many of the lawsuits have been brought by the Republican National Committee, and specifically target battleground states such as Georgia,

Nevada, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Though voter suppression efforts happen every year, this year has seen a notable increase in the number of ongoing lawsuits.

In an election season rife with dangerous anti-immigrant rhetoric, it comes as no surprise that voter suppression efforts are often driven by baseless, xenophobic claims. Purges are routinely justified as a means of removing noncitizens, who are ineligible to vote, from voter rolls. However, the data indicates that this is not a real problem. No credible evidence exists to suggest that noncitizen voters have ever had a meaningful impact on an election. 

Anti-immigrant bias in voter suppression has manifested on state ballots as well. Voters in 8 states will weigh in on ballot measures to ban people who are not US citizens from voting, even though Congress passed legislation in 1996 which already makes noncitizen voting in federal elections a crime.

• Georgia is a notable target of voter suppression efforts. In late September, the Georgia State Election Board approved a rule that requires a hand count of the number of ballots cast on Election Day. Many election officials testified against the measure, stating that human error makes hand counts slower and overall less reliable. Furthermore, this is a last-minute change which is highly likely to cause delays and disorganization on election night.

• In recent years, an examination of Texas voter rolls uncovered the registration of just .03% of possible noncitizens, many of whom were likely to have been recently naturalized and actually eligible to vote. In spite of this, in late August, Texas removed 1 million people from voter rolls, citing noncitizen voting as one of the main justifications.

• Similarly, in August, Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen announced that he had started purging more than 3,200 individuals from voter rolls because they had previously been identified as “noncitizens.” He did so while acknowledging that some of those purged might since have become naturalized citizens who are eligible to vote.

Proponents of voter suppression spread lies about election security which concretely impact the electoral process. Several secretaries of state testified to members of Congress on the chaos and confusion these lies have caused. Local election officials have spent considerable time debunking false election security claims, and responding to threats of violence. For these reasons, the senior director of communications for the National Association of Secretaries of State, encourages all mail-in voters to submit their ballot to USPS as soon as possible, to avoid encountering delays.

Voter suppression tactics in this country have existed as long as elections have been held. In the absence of the national voting rights protections we deserve, the best way to combat these efforts is to stay informed and to make sure your community stays informed.

For more information, check out the #PWNVotes Toolkit

• Know how to vote

  • For a comprehensive guide on how to vote, check out this resource from the National Women’s Health Network.

  • Know the voting rules and rights in your state. The #PWNVotes toolkit has everything you need to check voter registration, deadlines for early voting and mail in ballots, and more! 

  • Use this tool to find your local election office website and check your local election deadlines, ballot drop boxes, and in-person voting locations.

• Know what and who is on your ballot:

  • Find out what’s at stake this election for people living with HIV using the AIDS Untied Election Center. 

  • Look up your ballot before you get to the polls using Ballotpedia’s Sample Ballot tool. If you live in Colorado, make use of our 2024 PWN Ballot Guide!

  • Learn more about the issues you care about: Find which state legislators have voted on anti-trans bills using this database from the Trans Formations Project. You can also look up the basic facts on every abortion ballot measure being voted on this year using this resource.

• Know how to stay safe while voting:

• Check out the Vision, Change, Win Election Safety Toolkit for a comprehensive guide to protecting yourself and your community this election.

• The National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) provides tips on safe voting for survivors, including when a survivor is exercising their right to vote.

• Keep the Election Protection Hotline in your phone. If you have questions or concerns, you can call or text 866-OUR-VOTE for answers in real time. 

Stay safe, and reach out to staff at PWN if you’re struggling with any part of the voting process. 

Please note: PWN is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. We cannot tell you who to vote for; we can only give information on your options and on the voting process. The same rules apply when you are out canvassing or otherwise representing PWN in the community!

• Prop 1, previously known as the Equal Rights Act, will be on the New York ballot this November. Prop 1 will enshrine multiple protections into the New York state constitution, with a focus on abortion rights and LGBTQ+ rights. Anti-trans republican lawmakers are campaigning hard against the measure.
• Restrictive voter identification laws in certain states may leave more than 210,000 trans voters disenfranchised in the upcoming election. Despite these barriers to voting, studies show that people of trans experience vote more than cisgender people.

• Delaware state senator Sarah McBride, who recently won her primary, may be the first trans member of Congress. McBride’s key issues include affordable healthcare, reproductive rights, and increasing the minimum wage.

• Healthcare costs are a top concern for voters in the 2024 election, which the candidates are beginning to recognize. Studies show that healthcare tops the list of basic expenses most Americans work about.

• The Biden-Harris Administration and the Trump administration diverge significantly on key Medicaid topic areas. KFF has prepared a brief that compares and contrasts the presidential candidates’ voting records, proposed budgets, and proposed policies.

• For the second time this year, Senate Republicans voted down  legislation that would have established a nationwide right to IVF (in vitro fertilization).

• As voting is about to begin, Judges in Missouri and Nebraska have shut down last-ditch attempts to keep abortion rights measures off the ballots. Similar challenges have been brought in South Dakota and Florida. Abortion measures look different in every state, but most seek to enshrine the right to abortion in state constitutions

• In Maryland, Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives Neil Parrott repeatedly opposed a state law which would remove marriage as a defense for certain classes of rape and sexual assault. Recent polls have shown Parrot is neck and neck with Delaney, his Democratic opponent.

• Police are going door to door in Florida to ask voters about signing an abortion ballot petition. When asked why, officers have stated the questioning is part of an investigation into petition fraud. Election experts have criticized the investigation as a blatant voter suppression tactic, and a deliberate targeting of Amendment 4, which would enshrine the right to abortion in the Florida state constitution.

• The Presidential election is likely to have an impact on the housing crisis at the level of cities and local municipalities. Housing nonprofits are funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The next President will appoint people who control the types of funding nonprofits can apply for. The Biden Administration prioritized funding for organizations that took a housing-first approach, which provides that access to housing isn’t contingent on getting a job or treatment for substance abuse. The Trump administration pushed a treatment-first approach, and has outlined their intention to push it again.

• This election cycle, people across the nation will be voting on raising the minimum wage and, in some cases, improving sick leave policies. Ballot measures have been proposed in Alaska, California, Massachusetts, and Missouri.

• Since the Supreme Court significantly reduced barriers to criminalizing unhoused people in Grants Pass, dozens of municipalities across the country have passed or proposed “camping” bans against unhoused residents. These bans levy fines, tickets, and jail time against those impacted, simply for existing and living outside.

• The Biden Administration has once again stiffened border enforcement, which includes shutting down the asylum system anytime the number of crossings reaches a certain weekly threshold. As a result, fewer migrants have been attempting to cross the border. In this year’s election, the Democratic party has taken a more conservative approach to immigration, endorsing a platform with stricter rules for political asylum and quicker deportations of people who cross the border for economic reasons.

• Presidential candidate Donald Trump has used his platform to repeat anti-Black, anti-immigrant misinformation that dehumanizes Haitian immigrants and inflames HIV stigma. Despite the claims espoused by Trump and his vice presidential candidate, we know that bad policies fuel HIV transmission. Such policies include defunding reproductive health services, syringe services programs, and public health approaches to HIV prevention and care.