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Old enemies seldom give up. Instead, they vary the method of
attack or don a variety of masks or forms to disguise their
approach and intent. Nowhere is this truth illustrated more
clearly than in efforts to suppress the black vote, a tactic
utilized by enemies of the black community dating back to
the late 19th Century post-Reconstruction period and
Southern Jim Crow era of the mid-20th Century.
Today, with blacks providing the Democratic Party with
almost unanimous support, conservatives have had to rely on
suppressing the black vote to achieve victory in competitive
States for presidential and statewide elections.
Gone are the poll taxes and literacy tests. In their place
are modern forms of voter intimidation such as billboards in
urban areas promising prison time for intentional or
unintentional voting irregularities or incidences where the
True the Vote group has popped up to challenge voter
registrations of college students. There have also been
other roadblocks to black voter participation such as long
lines, faulty voting machines and misinformation about
polling locations.
In addition, a myriad of legislative attempts to make the
voting process less accessible for millions of Ohioans such
as SB 238, a bill to trim six days off of early voting and
eliminate golden week - the brief window of time where
voters can register and cast an early ballot on the same
day.
Another bill, SB 205 has been introduced to throw out
absentee ballots for minor errors such as transposing a
number in a zip code or address. Added to these is SB 216,
floated in the Ohio legislature to shave the time period for
voters to provide required information to the board of
election from 10 days to three days after the election and
to also prevent trained poll workers from aiding voters in
completing any portion of confusing provisional ballot
forms.
Thank God, however, that unlike the aftermath of the 2000,
2004, 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, there is a
movement afoot to counter the assault on the black voter,
who is more likely to be disadvantaged, low income, elderly,
a student or new resident.
Having been thwarted by an overwhelming Republican majority
in the Ohio legislature, delayed by the Constitutional
Modernization Commission and further stonewalled by the
Presidential Election Commission, Ohio Legislative Black
Caucus (OLBC) President and National Action Network Board
Member and Ohio Representative Alicia Reece along with
national civil rights leader and pastor, Otis Moss Jr. and
others have called for a Voter Bill of Rights to be placed
in the Ohio constitution.
The Ohio Voter Bill of Rights, “a historic initiative and
the only viable solution to the attack on voter rights,”
according to MSNBC’s Reverend Al Sharpton, will guarantee
all Ohio citizens 18 years of age and older, who are
registered to vote 30 days prior to the election, with the
fundamental right to cast a ballot and have their vote
counted.
In addition to effectively putting an end to the myriad
conservative legislative schemes with the sole purpose to
reduce the black vote, this initiative will allow the
General Assembly to pass laws that expand or facilitate
voting rights, but not deny or limit them.
Among provisions included in the Ohio Voter Bill of Rights
are those that make registration easy and accessible for
all, allow for greater access to vote-by-mail, maintain 35
days for early voting, more flexible ID requirements,
opportunities for working families and the faith community
to be able to participate by being open the weekend before
the election and finally, the stipulation that a voter’s
ballot cannot be rejected due to poll worker or election
official’s error.
However, 385,000 petition signatures must be gathered by
July 2, 2014 if the initiative is to make it onto the
statewide ballot in November. This is no small challenge
given the silence and indifference of the black clergy and
community institutions such as the NAACP to allegations of
disenfranchisement in previous elections in Ohio from 2000 -
2012.
“The excitement around the state is incredible,” states
Shaun Tucker, OLBC’s executive director. “There has been a
good deal of apathy out there in the past, but the faith
community is beginning to embrace this movement and church
leaders and civil rights leaders have joined together in
ways we’ve not seen before. We have something tangible - a
plan.to constitutionalize the effort, where we’ve never had
a plan to attack voter suppression in the past,” Tucker
adds.
Voter suppression has a long and ignominious history,
particularly in Ohio. It is an evil that needs to be
defeated once and for all. To do so is a monumental task.
Yet to be seen is whether the black churches and community
institutions such as the A. Phillip Randolph Institute,
headed locally by the inexhaustible Andre Washington, and
the NAACP, led by Ray Wood and his “kitchen cabinet” of UAW
officials, have the will power and commitment to engage in a
large scale effort on behalf of Ohio’s four million black
voters.
Above all, the community must be willing to work together.
For “when there is no enemy within, the enemies outside
cannot defeat you.”
Contact Rev. Donald Perryman, D.Min, at
drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org
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