Fear of democracy is reviving Jim Crow-like strategies in NC | Opinion
The week before the Sept. 12 primary election in Mecklenburg County, a leader in Democracy North Carolina’s statewide voter engagement program shared their excitement with me about partnering because, “The (early) voting numbers are really low.”
It was shocking to hear, but now we know just how low the numbers in Mecklenburg County were. Only 5% of registered voters cast ballots early or on Election Day. Most concerning, however, is that less than 1% of those aged 18-25 and less than 2% aged 26-40 voted.
“Oh no, it’s working!,” I thought as I heard the data.
What’s working? Reviving Jim Crow in North Carolina. Yes, due to fear of democracy, that strategy remains alive. Sounds ridiculous? It is, but only if we choose to forget our not-so-distant history.
When our nation was established in 1776, voting was limited to white male landowners. White women gained the right to vote with the 19th Amendment in 1920. Though Black men gained the right to vote with the 15th Amendment in 1870, it was short lived. During Jim Crow, Black men and women were systematically blocked from voting through poll taxes, grandfather clauses, literacy tests, intimidation and murder following the end of slavery and abandonment of Reconstruction.
It wasn’t until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that Black people, and subsequently others, could vote. Finally, democracy.
The fear of a symphony of voices registering and voting — democracy — is driving the current effort by the N.C. General Assembly and the state Supreme Court to revive Jim Crow. They have three goals:
▪ Discourage voter turnout by targeting specific groups
▪ Take away voting rights, e.g. disenfranchisement
▪ Throw out votes — the playbook from the 2020 election
The strategy to discourage voter turnout is seen in the voter ID law that took effect after the N.C. Supreme Court decision in Holmes v. Moore. This affects hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians, specifically Black, Latino, student and low wealth voters. Adding an extra barrier serves one purpose: discouraging voter participation.
The Harper v. Hall decision further targets and limits the power of Black voters. It makes partisan gerrymandering — manipulation of voting maps — legal after previously being ruled illegal. In 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court found that “race predominated” in the drawing of two N.C. congressional maps.
Finally, the N.C. Supreme Court in CSI v. Moore reversed its 2022 decision to restore the right to register and vote for 56,000 North Carolinians on probation, parole, or some other post-release supervision from a felony conviction. Less than 365 days passed before the voting rights of these North Carolinians, disproportionately Black, were stripped away.
Finally, through an omnibus elections bill, Senate Bill 747, lawmakers attempted to make all same-day registration ballots provisional. This means that legitimate votes could potentially be thrown out. Thanks to a statewide advocacy effort this was removed from the final version when this bill passed in August, although photo Voter ID is now a major factor in the provisional ballot process in ways it wasn’t before.
All of this prompted me to speak these words in a sermon I preached in May at a church in Charlotte: “It is fear… fear that these people who we have rigged the rules against somehow keep rising despite how harsh their circumstances. They’re going to overwhelm us!” I preached from the passage in Exodus where Pharaoh orders all Egyptians to throw every newborn Hebrew boy into the Nile River because he fears their growth in number will overwhelm the status quo of holding them in bondage.
This is what many elected officials in the N.C. General Assembly and state Supreme Court fear: Democracy will actually work to elect persons and produce policies leading to social, cultural, political and economic equality, equity and justice for all North Carolinians.
Let’s prove their fears right and vote. Democracy is at stake.
Rev. Stefan Weathers Sr. is an Organizing Program Associate with Democracy North Carolina.
