Crystal Mason, a Black woman, was arrested and sentenced to five years after casting a provisional ballot that wasn’t going to be counted anyway. Crystal had just finished serving a five-year prison sentence for a tax fraud case and was finally home with her family when she was suddenly arrested again. This time for voter fraud. As someone said after hearing her story, “What a horrible thing to happen when trying to do the bare minimum of political engagement.” View Crystal’s story on Youtube: (1475) Crystal Mason: Arrested for Casting Provisional Ballot
The Midterm elections are stacking up to be some of the most important in our history. Our right to have our voices heard and choose our elected representatives is under attack by billionaires such as Charles Koch funding the current GOP candidates for governor, secretary of state, as well as candidates for the House and Senate races. For these billionaires to maintain economic and political power they must deny the needs of the working masses who are going to the polls to vote for programs to meet their basic needs for a decent life.
Although both parties have manipulated the vote to keep control, it is the GOP today which has perfected the real “steal” of the vote. In 2016 Trump lost not just the popular vote, but also the vote in key swing states — that is, if you counted all the ballots cast and allowed the blocked and purged voters to vote.
And just who are these blocked and purged voters? Primarily low-income persons of color. After GW Bush took Florida in 2000 by purging thousands of Black voters erroneously labeled as “felons,” changes were made under the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), passed in 2002.
The Congressional Black Caucus proposed a measure in the Help America Vote Act allowing those voters not listed on the voter rolls to cast provisional ballots which must be verified later, but often are thrown out (by law, they don’t have to be counted), especially by Republican Secretaries of State. This is what happened in Georgia in 2018, allowing Jack Kemp to win over Stacey Abrams. It is estimated that 4 to 10 million voters might be purged this year.
So what is to be done?
Demand that all ballots be counted. End the provisional ballot system. Check your voter registration status before going to the polls. Your right to vote is guaranteed not by the Constitution, but by federal law.
If the GOP is successful in allowing individual states to determine which votes are counted, your democratic rights can be eliminated under the guise of States’ Rights. Educate your family, friends, and neighbors. Making the ballot accessible to all eligible voters is one key to defending democracy.
Cathy Talbott is a former telephone operator, a job lost to automation. She was a homeless mother of two and fights for welfare rights. A former co-host of a weekly community radio program out of Carbondale, IL, “Occupy the Airwaves,” Cathy is the Environmental Desk for the People’s Tribune.
