With just a few hours until the presidential election, voters and officials across the country are confronting unprecedented threats to voting access. These include restrictive new voting laws, misinformation, voter roll purges, and even political violence.

In a media briefing on October 18, hosted by Ethnic Media Services, a panel of experts discussed the threats that loom around this election and how those of use voting in this election can make sure our vote counts.

Speakers

  • Celina Stewart, CEO, League of Women Voters of the United States (LWV)
  • Andrew Garber, counsel, Voting Rights and Elections Program, Brennan Center for Justice
  • Robert A. Pape, Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago
  • May Tiwamangkala, Democracy Defender Director at Arizona Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander for Equity (AZ AANHPI)

Political Violence

Dr. Robert Pape highlighted the intensity of today’s political violence, saying, “You’d have to go back to the 1960s and ‘70s to see anything like the hotbed of political violence we’re in now” His research shows that since 2001, Department of Justice-prosecuted threats have surged fivefold, reaching 19.5 under President Trump and rising to 21.6 under President Biden.

According to Pape, most of this violence is driven by polarized opinions about Donald Trump and amplified by public discourse. He noted that some of it is fueled by the “Great Replacement” theory — the belief that the country’s white population is being replaced by other ethnic groups.

Recent incidents include assassination attempts against high-profile leaders such as Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2022, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, President Joe Biden, and former presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump. Additionally, politically motivated mass shootings, like those at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018, an El Paso Walmart in 2019, and a Buffalo supermarket in 2022, further underscore this threat.

A CPOST survey in September 2024, sampling over 2,200 Americans, found that 5.8% supported using political violence to restore Trump to the presidency, while 8% approved of violence to prevent him from becoming president — equating to 15 million and 21 million Americans, respectively.

“If Trump loses, the violence could actually get worse,” Pape warned. “A third of respondents already own guns … While Election Day itself is a danger point, it may get worse afterward because of state vote counting and certification schedules, especially in swing states where losing even 3% of ballots could throw the outcome into chaos.”

Despite these concerns, the survey also revealed strong bipartisan support for countering political violence, with 84% of Democrats and 76% of Republicans — roughly 200 million Americans — backing a Congressional coalition against such threats. The best policy “is not to have our political leadership become therapists getting people to talk out their anger, but helping people redirect their anger away from violence and toward voting,”

Voter Suppression

“Voter suppression doesn’t involve states putting up giant signs that say you can’t vote. It involves less overt ways to make it just a little too hard for some people to get to the ballot box, like a death by 1,000 cuts,” Suppressive tactics include shortened deadlines for voter registration, restrictions on mail ballot requests, closing polling stations, and limiting the support election officials can provide to voters.

Between 2020 and 2024, 78 restrictive voting laws were enacted across 30 states, nearly doubling the number passed in the previous eight years. These restrictions particularly impact mail voting, a method that saw a major increase during the pandemic, especially among communities of color.

“In Georgia, for instance, previously, primarily white voters voted by mail. In 2020, that flipped toward voters of color … In January 2021, the Georgia legislature reconvened and, as one of its top priorities, passed a law that made it harder to vote by mail.”

He pointed out that the justification for these restrictions — claims of widespread voter fraud — are unsupported by evidence. A 2016 Brennan Center survey found only 30 cases of suspected noncitizen voting out of 23.5 million votes cast, representing just 0.0001% of ballots.

According to Celina Stewart, “The U.S. has some of the most secure elections in the world. It’s not the actual infrastructure apparatus. It’s more about people’s ability to access it,”

Voting Access

Stewart emphasized that we can protect our voting rights by first ensuring they are registered. “With voter roll purges, it’s important to update and check your registration, especially if you move or change your name” she said. Voters can also use LWV’s VOTE411 hub for resources like local polling locations, mail-in and early voting information, and guides on candidates and campaign finance.

Stewart encouraged us to attend candidate forums: “Nothing is better than being able to hear directly from a candidate answering your questions about the issues you care about. When we vote for our leaders, we’re choosing the people who will make decisions that impact how we engage in the world day-to-day, whether that’s health care, jobs or climate change — like the impact of the recent hurricane in the South.”

Arizona Voting Restrictions

Arizona, where laws impose some of the country’s strictest proof-of-citizenship requirements for voter registration, faces additional challenges. May Tiwamangkala noted that Arizona recently purged 98,000 voters due to this requirement, though only one individual was found to be a non-citizen — and that person had never voted.

“The ‘non-citizens voting’ rhetoric is a scare tactic that certain elected officials and media outlets use to divide our state … and this election year, the rampant anti-immigrant narrative is making it easier for lawmakers to pass laws that target immigrant communities,” Tiwamangkala said. 

AZ AANHPI is part of a lawsuit against the state over two 2022 laws, HB 2492 and HB 2242, which add more hurdles for proving citizenship and allow voter roll purges without adequate evidence.

“We’re an extremely polarized culture, especially since we’re a border state, and people are hesitant to get political because they don’t want to break personal relationships. Voter apathy is growing here because people are struggling with inflating living costs, and they feel that the government isn’t helping,” Tiwamangkala said.

 

Images provided by Ethnic Media Services.