The right to vote is the cornerstone of democracy, but the struggle to secure it for all Americans has been a long and arduous fight.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “So long as I do not firmly and irrevocably possess the right to vote, I do not possess myself.”
These words remain crucial today as voter suppression tactics continue to threaten access to the ballot, particularly for marginalized communities.
The 2020 election saw a historic voter turnout — 66.8%, the highest in over a century — with more than 159 million Americans casting ballots, despite challenges from a global pandemic and renewed voter suppression efforts. Yet over 80 million eligible Americans did not vote. This is alarming in a democracy that relies on active participation.
In 2013, the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder weakened the Voting Rights Act, leading to a wave of voter suppression laws. At least 19 states, including Tennessee, passed voter ID laws and limited access to mail-in voting between 2020 and 2021 that made voting more difficult, particularly affecting marginalized and young people.