STRICT RULES KEEP MILLIONS FROM VOTING
Restrictions will exclude US minority voters, put Democrats at disadvantage
MILLIONS of Americans will be barred from casting ballots in tomorrow’s crucial midterm elections due to electoral rules at the state level, which effectively exclude many minority voters to the detriment of Democrats.
Nearly six million Americans are excluded from voting because they are imprisoned, on parole or awaiting sentencing.
African-Americans, who are overrepresented in the US penal system, are four times more likely to be unable to vote than the rest of the population, according to The Sentencing Project, a nonprofit organisation.
Rules vary widely by state, with some like Maine and New Hampshire allowing inmates to vote.
But in places such as Kentucky, Iowa, Virginia and Florida, any conviction, even for a minor offence like possession of marijuana, results in lifelong disenfranchisement.
In Florida, where Donald Trump won by just 112,000 votes in 2016, nearly 1.5 million people cannot vote because of a criminal record.
There is no national identity card in the United States, with each state defining what documents can be used as identification at the polling station.
And according to the American Civil Liberties Union, an influential civil rights organisation, several states have imposed restrictive rules since 2010.
North Dakota has since 2016 required its residents to present a document with proof of a street address.
But the state is home to thousands of Native Americans who live on reservations in rural areas with but a single post office box.
They might be turned away at the ballot box, where Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat who was elected to the Senate in 2012 by just 3,000 votes, is campaigning to keep her seat.
Backers of the rule say it prevents fraud, as North Dakota does not require voters to pre-register.
In Georgia, the data voters provide when registering at the polls have since last year been compared with those given when applying for a driver’s licence or social security number. If there are discrepancies, authorities may refuse the registration.
Democrat Stacey Abrams, who hopes to become the first black woman elected governor in the US, has accused her Republican opponent, Brian Kemp, of using his position heading the office that oversees elections to influence the vote.
Kemp in turn says voters can cast ballots if they clarify their situations, and accuses Abrams of wanting to let undocumented immigrants vote.
A federal judge on Friday ordered the state to immediately change its procedure and make it easier for those who have already been flagged, about 3,100 people, to prove their citizenship.
But even if applications in limbo are ultimately approved, Abrams fears the challenge to register might cause these voters to stay home.