Conference Topic
Voter Education
Program Abstract/Summary
One person, no vote, seems to have become the reality of modern-day America. Across the country, citizens are stripped of their fundamental right to vote, and today, it should be more evident that our democracy has become under assault. This presentation and discussion will provide a historical context of voter suppression while leaving participants informed and motivated about the importance of voting and how they can exercise their fundamental rights.
Learning Outcomes
- Understand the historical contact of voter suppression in the United States post-civil war (Reconstruction Era)
- Identify instances of voter suppression in the United States and its effect of specific demographics
- Recognize the false reasonableness of the current voting system (ex- needing a voting ID)
- Gain Knowledge in understanding the importance of getting out to vote in elections
- Leave with tangible resources for how to exercise their right to vote
Relationship to Theme
The history of voter suppression and its mechanisms to suppress minority votes is a part of the bigger puzzle to voting rights in the United States. After the Reconstruction period following the Civil War, many free slaves earned the right to hold office and vote; however, many laws were put in place to restrict them from doing so. Jim Crow laws inhibited African Americans the very right to vote by means of instituting poll taxes, grandfather clauses, literacy tests and more.
Today, we see this as an extreme problem in the era of our current president’s administration. Voter suppression mechanisms have rendered their way back into the forefront of society — or better yet, have transformed into equivalents for the modern-day. The results of this very circumstance have rendered a cycle of people divided through the exclusion of representation and creating an even more polarized environment than ever before. Additionally, in an era where voter suppression has reached several areas of life from repressing Native Americans ability to vote and political forces impacting laws inhibiting certain demographics to vote all the way to a criminal justice system that casts out thousands of people from society including the ability to exercise their right to vote, there is not a more important time to talk about the impact of suppressing votes than today.
Presenter Bio
Mustafa Ali-Smith is a current graduate student in the Master of Liberal Arts program at the University of Pennsylvania and a recent December graduate from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Through the interdisciplinary program at the University of Pennsylvania, Mustafa focuses his research on inequality and the intersection of education and the criminal justice system.
During his time at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, he has had the opportunity to see the world differently in the realm of public policy, inequality, the inner workings of communities, and their intersectionality. Inevitably, he has grown to believe that it is our soulful duty to participate in civic engagement to ensure we are forever committed to the growth of the communities around us. He believes that change comes not just from the legal field but from advocacy and civic engagements on the ground in communities.
Mustafa’s time has been spent serving communities of marginalized students, speaking out against injustices, and creating a place where civic engagement is encouraged and celebrated to change systems of oppression. For four years, he tunneled this advocacy through the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville Chapter. There, he served as the Political Action Chair where he emphasized the importance of civic engagement and voting through different programs and events in the community and later on served as the President of the organization.
Accompanied by the efforts to promote civil discourse among students, Mustafa has always made it a priority to inform students about the power they hold when they get out to vote. He Has organized numerous voter registration efforts in the Knoxville community during his time as a student, emphasizing the importance of youth and minority votes and partnering with local organizations to assist in the effort.
Included in
Civic and Community Engagement Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance Commons
Don’t Count Me Out! There’s Power in Participation: Voter Suppression & Destabilizing Its Reasonableness
One person, no vote, seems to have become the reality of modern-day America. Across the country, citizens are stripped of their fundamental right to vote, and today, it should be more evident that our democracy has become under assault. This presentation and discussion will provide a historical context of voter suppression while leaving participants informed and motivated about the importance of voting and how they can exercise their fundamental rights.
