Joe’s story
Joe’s neighbor Maria has voted in every election for twenty years. She’s a nurse. She works long shifts. She’s not big on politics but she believes in doing her civic duty.
In 2022 she showed up to her polling place and waited in line for three hours. Three hours — on a Tuesday, after a twelve-hour shift. The polling place near her house had been closed. The next closest one served twice as many people with half the voting machines. She made it. A lot of people behind her in line didn’t.
Joe doesn’t understand why it has to be so hard. In other democracies you vote on a weekend, or it’s a national holiday, or you get automatically registered when you turn 18.
Joe starts asking questions. Why are polling places closing? Why isn’t Election Day a holiday? Who benefits when fewer people vote? The answers all point in the same direction.
The facts, plain and simple
425+
Voter restriction bills introduced in 49 states after the 2020 election — 33 enacted
26
Republican-controlled states that made voting harder for people of color after 2020
21M
Americans who don’t have qualifying government-issued photo ID
0
Republicans who voted for the Freedom to Vote Act
When more people vote, Republicans tend to lose. That’s not a partisan attack — it’s arithmetic. Young voters, voters of color, low-income voters — all groups that lean Democratic — are also exactly the groups targeted by voter ID laws, polling place closures, and restrictions on early and mail-in voting.
The party that wins when turnout is low has a powerful incentive to keep turnout low. Since the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013, Republican-led states have executed a systematic, state-by-state campaign to do exactly that.
What Republicans have done about it
Every Senate Republican blocked the For the People Act — twice
The For the People Act would have established automatic voter registration, at least 15 days of early voting, and made Election Day a federal holiday. It passed the House twice. Every Senate Republican voted to block it both times.
Every Senate Republican blocked the Freedom to Vote Act
Democrats scaled back their voting rights bill to try to win Republican support. The compromise was blocked 49-51 along party lines. Not one Republican crossed the aisle.
Republican Supreme Court justices gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013
In Shelby County v. Holder, five Republican-appointed justices struck down the core of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Within hours of the ruling, Texas announced a new voter ID law. The floodgates opened.
Republican states passed 33 new voting restriction laws after 2020
After an election Republicans lost, Republican-controlled legislatures rushed to pass laws making it harder to vote. Georgia even made it illegal to give food or water to voters standing in line.
What could actually change things
Make Election Day a national holiday
Every other major democracy makes it easy to vote. National holiday, weekend voting, automatic registration — these aren’t radical ideas. They’re how functioning democracies operate.
Restore the Voting Rights Act
The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act would restore the protections gutted by the Supreme Court in 2013. It has passed the House. Senate Republicans have blocked it every time.
Ban partisan gerrymandering
Gerrymandering lets politicians choose their voters instead of voters choosing their politicians. The Freedom to Vote Act would have banned it federally. Republicans blocked it.
When someone pushes back — what to say
They say:
“Voter ID is just common sense. You need ID for everything else.”
21 million Americans don’t have qualifying ID — disproportionately poor, Black, and elderly. Texas allowed concealed carry permits as voter ID but not university IDs. That’s not security — that’s targeting. If ID were really the goal, they’d make it free and easy to get.
They say:
“We need these laws to prevent voter fraud.”
Voter fraud is vanishingly rare. The Heritage Foundation — which supports voter ID laws — has documented about 1,300 proven cases over several decades across billions of votes cast. The fraud justification was invented after 2020 to give legal cover to laws designed to reduce turnout.
They say:
“States should control their own elections.”
‘States’ rights’ has been the excuse for blocking voting rights since the Jim Crow era — when states used that same argument to justify poll taxes and literacy tests. The right to vote is fundamental. When states systematically strip it from certain groups, the federal government has both the authority and the obligation to step in.
The answer to protecting your vote is SVR.
Stop Voting Republican — before they make it impossible to vote them out.
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