How your Wealth can Support Democracy in 2024: Combatting Voter Suppression
How To Combat Voter ID Laws and Voter Suppression in 2024
We are in an election year during an era of high partisanship, as well as realized and threatened acts of political violence. The threats facing democracy require engaged citizens to take action early and often in 2024. Together, our actions can support America’s democratic process and fight the tide of politicians championing an autocratic, regressive vision for America’s future.
In the second part of the 5-part blog series on how your wealth can support democracy in 2024, I explain how you can fight voter suppression and voter ID laws with your 2024 giving.
Posted on February 2, 2024 by Katherine Fox.
How To Combat Voter ID Laws and Voter Suppression in 2024
What is voter suppression and what role do voter ID laws play?
Voter suppression is anything that puts a barrier between voters and the ballot box. Voter suppression has been on the rise since the Supreme Court weakened the 1965 Voting Rights Act in 2013 and has accelerated over the past several years. Voter suppression activities include the following:
Strict Voter ID Laws - requiring voters at the polls to show valid ID before casting a vote.
Reducing times available for voting - cutting opportunities for early voting or reducing voting hours on election day, especially at polling locations in BIPOC communities.
Restricting voter registration - requiring documentation to prove ID or citizenship, obstacles to voter registration drives, or reducing the time that voters can register before an election.
Purging voter rolls - a tool of mass disenfranchisement that can block hundreds of thousands of Americans from voting in a single sweep, without their knowledge.
Since 2013, at least 20 states have passed new voter ID laws that restrict American’s right to vote. In 2023 alone, 415 bills were introduced and 14 bills passed that restrict voter registration or interfere with election administration.
Why is combating voter ID laws and voter suppression important?
Free and fair elections are an essential cornerstone of American democracy. Over the past decade, we have seen an alarming increase in politicians and state governments restricting the right to vote in an effort to secure their own party’s majority.
As America becomes more diverse and the Republican Party’s traditional voter base shrinks, their efforts to block the vote of BIPOC citizens, people with disabilities, women, and young Americans continue to grow and expand. These efforts have taken on new legitimacy after the Trump presidency, the effort to delegitimize the 2020 Presidential election results, and the associated rise in fear mongering and disinformation.
Voter ID laws are an all-out effort to maintain and re-consolidate power in the hands of the older white male majority. Through voter ID laws and other voter suppression tactics, the Republican party is hoping to return to the days when women, people of color, and people with disabilities are subject to systemic disenfranchisement.
Many states actively promote free and fair elections, and legislation has been introduced at the Federal level to again enshrine the right to vote as part of American Democracy. But the tide of restriction is overwhelming.
“Together, our actions can support America’s democratic process and fight the tide of politicians championing an autocratic, regressive vision for America’s future.”
How To Combat Voter ID Laws and Voter Suppression in 2024
How can I support organizations combating voter ID laws and voter suppression?
Given the current political composition of Congress, legal challenges at the state level are one of the most effective ways to combat voter ID laws and voter suppression. Supporting get out the vote efforts, including voter education and grassroots voter registration drives also play a key role in helping disenfranchised individuals realize their constitutional right to vote.
Many of the below organizations have active challenges to voter ID laws and other restrictive voting laws across the country. Supporting their work in 2024 gives us a chance to reinstate voting rights over the next 9 months, to fight against new restrictions, and to continue this important work beyond the 2024 Presidential election.
Source: Movement Voter ProjectHow can I support organizations working to get out the vote?
If you want to combat voter ID laws and voter supression in 2024, there are three types of organizations to which you can give: 501(c)(3) Public Charities, 501(c)(4) Social Welfare Organizations, and Political Action Committees (PAC). The difference between these organizations is the nature of their work.
What is nonpartisan work?
All c3 groups’ work (and ~60% of c4 groups’ work) must be strictly nonpartisan. This powerful work includes litigation, issue advocacy, and advocacy for or against ballot initiatives. However, it never promotes a particular political party or candidate, either directly or indirectly.
What is partisan work?
Partisan work reflects the proportion of funds an entity can use to support partisan or political activity, such as explicitly endorsing candidates for office, or commenting on candidates for office. Partisan work often heats up as elections approach, and it is critical for some groups to have enough partisan political funding to compete and win.
There is no right or wrong answer about giving to a 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), or PAC. The choice depends on what your goals are, if you would like your donation to be tax deductible, and if you are giving from a Donor Advised Fund, which cannot make contributions to 501(c)(4)s or PACs. Contributions from our family’s Donor Advised Fund all go to 501(c)(3) organizations so we focus our personal giving on 501(c)(4)s and PACs during national election years.
Learn more about organizations protecting American’s right to vote
The League of Women Voters is a political grassroots network and membership organization that believes the freedom to vote is a nonpartisan issue. For more than a century, the League of Women Voters has worked to empower voters and defend democracy. As a women-led organization, they encourage everyone to take part in our democracy. The League of Women Voters is a 501(c)(4) organization.
Common Cause has an innovative, pragmatic, and comprehensive pro-democracy agenda. Their work leads and defines the democracy reform movement, promoting solutions already succeeding in some communities to shift power to the people and away from wealthy special interests and partisan ideologues. Their campaigns include voting and elections, redistricting and representation, ethics and accountability, money and influence, and media and democracy. Common Cause is a 501(c)(4) organization.
Fair Elections Center is a national, nonpartisan voting rights and election reform organization based in Washington, D.C. Their mission is to use litigation and advocacy to remove barriers to registration and voting, particularly those disenfranchising underrepresented and marginalized communities, and to improve election administration. Fair Elections Center is a 501(c)(3) organization.
Through litigation and innovative ad campaigns, Priorities USA is leading the effort to empower marginalized communities, people of color, students, the elderly, and voters with disabilities to fully participate in our elections. The organization has funded over $60 million in voting rights legislation since 2015. Priorities Foundation is a Political Action Committee.
Let’s take the next step together
If you want to increase the impact your wealth creates, you don’t have to do it alone. Figuring out which organizations to support and at what level to support them can be a difficult task, and the opportunities to engage don’t end when the election is over. If you need more help, reach out to Katherine Fox, CFP® and CAP®, a financial planner for inheritors to learn how Sunnybranch can help you build a plan to grow the charitable and political impact of your inherited wealth.
