Research Project

The ability to vote is foundational to the establishment of the United States, and yet access to voting continues to be one of the most controversial topics in the country. This paper will examine the voter suppression tactics employed throughout the history of the United States, and the realities of voter suppression today. I argue that there exist both formal and informal barriers to voting within the American electorate system. Formal methods include those identified throughout American history, including policies and laws (Voter ID Laws, Jim Crowe Era policies, Literacy Tests) as well as court cases (Shelby County v. Holder). Informal methods include those that discriminate on the basis of socioeconomic status and geopolitical location, such as long wait times at the polls. The impact of informal methods on the electoral process is evaluated by looking into the relationship between voter wait times and presence at the polls on election day. I hypothesize that increased wait times act as an informal barrier to voting for individuals identifying in the lower income class.