[{"command":"settings","settings":{"pluralDelimiter":"\u0003","suppressDeprecationErrors":true,"ajaxPageState":{"libraries":"eJxLzSvJLKmMT81NSk3RT04sKMnMz9Mpy0wtL9YHk3qJWYkVKAK5-SmlOakAd1UWCw","theme":"hrw_design","theme_token":null},"ajaxTrustedUrl":[],"views":{"ajax_path":"\/views\/ajax","ajaxViews":{"views_dom_id:blog_live_feed__blog_body_block__340994__en":{"view_name":"blog_live_feed","view_display_id":"blog_body_block","view_args":"340994","view_path":"\/blog\/content\/340994","view_base_path":null,"view_dom_id":"blog_live_feed__blog_body_block__340994__en","pager_element":0}}},"csp":{"nonce":"0tjYMJgptjepmNTIBKurVQ"},"user":{"uid":0,"permissionsHash":"bc8921424f39d39c64af84232b603fadae46f840a8176c1b2436a5ee00791ac5"}},"merge":true},{"command":"add_css","data":[{"rel":"stylesheet","media":"all","href":"\/sites\/default\/files\/css\/css_ttdgUoxkB-pbINT5dW1cMh3IgYOCVTjCJ6Cp-XWwa0k.css?delta=0\u0026language=en\u0026theme=hrw_design\u0026include=eJxLzi9K1U8pKi1IzNFLzEqs0EnNK8ksqYxPzU1KTdFPTiwoyczP0ynLTC0v1geTern5KaU5qQBrXRXg"}]},{"command":"add_js","selector":"body","data":[{"src":"\/sites\/default\/files\/js\/js_VAWKYxPX4vFoyXs0iEPUrnc99CjyNLIu_pZawjEz9i8.js?scope=footer\u0026delta=0\u0026language=en\u0026theme=hrw_design\u0026include=eJwry0wtL9YvA5F6iVmJFQA22wZe"}]},{"command":"insert","method":"replaceWith","selector":".js-view-dom-id-blog_live_feed__blog_body_block__340994__en","data":"\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-view-dom-id-blog_live_feed__blog_body_block__340994__en\u0022\u003E\n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n\n \u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022blog-block__content__description rich-text pt-6 mb:pt-10 mx-auto\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022embed\u0022 data-type=\u0022image\u0022\u003E\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003Cdiv class=\u0022embed embedded-entity embedded-entity-type-media embedded-entity-bundle-image embedded-entity-viewmode-embeddable\u0022 xmlns:xlink=\u0022http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\u0022\u003E\n \n\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \n \n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\u0022figure figure--expand text-center info \u0022\u003E\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022figure__media relative inline-block mx-auto\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ca href=\u0022\/modal\/40988\u0022 rel=\u0022modal:open\u0022 class=\u0022figure__link\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cimg loading=\u0022lazy\u0022 srcset=\u0022\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/480w\/public\/multimedia_images_2020\/202004us_voting_blog.jpg?itok=HFV26cXs 480w, \/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/embed_xxl\/public\/multimedia_images_2020\/202004us_voting_blog.jpg?itok=0NbVkGOq 946w\u0022 sizes=\u0022(max-width: 524px) 100px, 500px\u0022 width=\u0022946\u0022 height=\u0022631\u0022 data-responsive-image-style=\u0022embedded_images\u0022 src=\u0022\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/embed_xxl\/public\/multimedia_images_2020\/202004us_voting_blog.jpg?itok=0NbVkGOq\u0022 alt=\u0022A voter wears a mask while waiting to cast ballot.\u0022\u003E\n\n\n\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022figure__expand absolute block bottom-0 right-0 w-8 h-8 bg-white text-gray-700\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022sr-only\u0022\u003EClick to expand Image\u003C\/span\u003E\n \n\n\n\u003Cdiv class=\u0022icon fill-current w-full inline-block\u0022\u003E\n \u003Csvg viewBox=\u00220 0 20 20\u0022 fill=\u0022currentColor\u0022 role=\u0022img\u0022 focusable=\u0022false\u0022 aria-hidden=\u0022true\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022\/themes\/custom\/hrw_design\/dist\/app-drupal\/assets\/spritemap.svg?cacheBuster=250315#sprite-expand\u0022 \/\u003E\n \u003C\/svg\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/a\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003Cfigcaption class=\u0022figure__info text-left font-serif text-xs md:text-sm lg:text-base mx-auto text-gray-700 mt-1\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022figure__caption\u0022\u003EA voter wears a mask while waiting to cast ballot.\n\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022figure__credit\u0022\u003EPhoto Credit: Associated Press\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003C\/figcaption\u003E\n \u003C\/figure\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\n\n\n\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ELast week, images of mask-clad voters standing for hours in long, snaking lines at Wisconsin polling stations shocked many across the United States. As \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/content\/340537\u0022\u003Ewe reported\u003C\/a\u003E last Tuesday, a series of dramatic eleventh-hour events concluded in a chaotic Election Day in which many Wisconsin voters had to choose between risking their health and voting in the national and local races that were held, with fewer resources than ever, in the midst of a pandemic. Media investigations following Election Day have shed more light on how events played out and what it could portend for November.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EOver the weekend, PBS\u2019 Frontline, in partnership with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Columbia Journalism Investigations, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wgbh\/frontline\/article\/voter-suppression-wisconsin-election-missing-ballots-lines-coronavirus-covid-19\/\u0022\u003Epublished a story\u003C\/a\u003E that featured the harrowing experiences of people who felt their votes had been suppressed, including the following anecdotes:\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp style=\u0022margin-left:.5in;\u0022\u003EHannah Gleeson, a 34-year-old health care worker, said she knew voting in person was not going to be an option for her after she tested positive for coronavirus in late March.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp style=\u0022margin-left:.5in;\u0022\u003EGleeson said she and her husband requested absentee ballots ahead of the deadline but never received them. On election day, the couple stayed home as others made their way to the polls.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp style=\u0022margin-left:.5in;\u0022\u003E\u201cI can\u2019t expose hundreds, possibly thousands, of people to something that I\u2019ve been struggling with now for 14 days,\u201d Gleeson said. \u201cI really think it\u2019s voter suppression at its finest. I honestly think that it\u2019s a failing of democracy and everything that America was built on.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp style=\u0022margin-left:.5in;\u0022\u003ELee McFadden Jr., 63, a retiree who said he was recently discharged from the hospital after recovering from coronavirus, lugged his oxygen tank to three different poll locations looking for one without a line.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp style=\u0022margin-left:.5in;\u0022\u003EUnable to stand for long, he was confronted with crowds at every location, he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp style=\u0022margin-left:.5in;\u0022\u003E\u201cI told my wife, \u2018We\u2019re not going to vote this year because my health means more to me than trying to elect some official,\u2019\u201d McFadden said. \u201cSo I came home.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp style=\u0022margin-left:.5in;\u0022\u003EMilwaukee offered only five polling places Tuesday due to lack of poll workers \u2014 less than 3% of its normal 180 voting sites.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EOn Monday, the New York Times reported in further detail how a US Supreme Court decision \u2013 one that \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2020\/04\/06\/politics\/supreme-court-coronavirus-ginsburg-wisconsin\/index.html\u0022\u003EJustice Ruth Bader Ginsburg\u003C\/a\u003E dissented, saying it \u201cboggles the mind\u201d \u2013 allowed the Wisconsin legislature\u2019s suppressive tactics to proceed.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EPrior to the Supreme Court decision, a federal judge had granted a request to extend the deadline for mail-in ballots to allow people who feared infection to vote safely. The Supreme Court struck down that lower court decision, ruling that \u2013 even in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic that was overwhelming Wisconsin elections officials\u2019 capacity to provide absentee ballots on time \u2013 voters would not be allotted any extra time to mail in their ballots. The ruling came the same day that the Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected the governor\u2019s order to delay in-person voting until June.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E The \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/04\/13\/us\/wisconsin-election-voting-rights.html\u0022\u003ENew York Times\u003C\/a\u003E chronicles what happened next:\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp style=\u0022margin-left:.5in;\u0022\u003EWhen the state released its final vote tallies on Monday, it was clear that the decision \u2014 arrived at remotely, so the justices would not have to brave the Covid-19 conditions \u2014 had resulted in the disenfranchisement of thousands of voters, forced several thousand more to endanger their lives at polls and burdened already strained state health officials with a grim new task: tracking the extent to which in-person voting contributed to the virus\u2019s spread in the state, a federal disaster area.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe obstacles to voting that were erected last week in Wisconsin are part of a larger pattern of increasing disenfranchisement in the United States. In the 2013 case \u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.vox.com\/policy-and-politics\/2019\/6\/25\/18701277\/shelby-county-v-holder-anniversary-voting-rights-suppression-congress\u0022\u003EShelby County v. Holder\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E, the US Supreme Court struck down what many considered the \u201cheart\u201d of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which had been signed into law to end the widespread voter suppression that for generations robbed African Americans of full participation in public affairs. The \u003Cem\u003EShelby\u003C\/em\u003E ruling now meant that states with sordid histories of racial discrimination no longer had to get approval from the US Department of Justice to change voting laws. Following the court\u2019s decision, a slew of states have passed measures \u2013 from \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/monkey-cage\/wp\/2017\/02\/15\/do-voter-identification-laws-suppress-minority-voting-yes-we-did-the-research\/\u0022\u003Evoter ID laws\u003C\/a\u003E to the unnecessary \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.brennancenter.org\/our-work\/analysis-opinion\/voter-purge-rates-remain-high-analysis-finds\u0022\u003Epurging of voter rolls\u003C\/a\u003E \u2013 that make it harder for people, especially African Americans and other people of color, to cast a ballot.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAs Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/politics\/archive\/2020\/04\/the-ticket-coronavirus-voter-suppression\/609883\/\u0022\u003Erecently said\u003C\/a\u003E in a podcast episode of The Atlantic\u2019s \u003Cem\u003EThe Ticket\u003C\/em\u003E, the erosion and rollback of voting rights over the last few years goes beyond partisanship \u2013 and there\u2019s no reason to think it will stop with Wisconsin.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp style=\u0022margin-left:.5in;\u0022\u003EYeah, I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve seen a period like this, and in fact that would only make it comparable to the early 1900s, when southern states adopted new constitutions that restricted voting for African Americans. I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve seen a period of sustained retrenchment as we have seen over the past seven or eight years. It\u2019s really quite astonishing. And much of it is steeped in racial voter suppression. Some of it is steeped in partisan voter suppression. And there is an overlap between racial and partisan voter suppression, to be sure. And the willingness of the courts to allow it rather than to see it for what it is.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp style=\u0022margin-left:.5in;\u0022\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EContinue following Human Rights Watch for more news on the erosion of voting rights in the United States and what can be done to fight it.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n\u003C\/div\u003E\n","settings":null},{"command":"insert","method":"prepend","selector":".js-view-dom-id-blog_live_feed__blog_body_block__340994__en","data":"","settings":null}]