Groups that have previously acted against the LGBTQ community are now acting in favor of voter suppression efforts. In light of voter fraud rhetoric spread by former President Trump and his supporters, Georgia governor Brian Kemp enforced more restrictive requirements for voters by signing Senate Bill 202 (SB 202). Now conservative groups such as Susan B. Anthony’s List, Heritage Foundation, Family Research Council, and the Tea Party Patriots are openly backing the SB 202 agenda.
The bill is set on limiting ballot boxes, increasing voter ID verification, shifting power away from the Secretary of State, and even criminalizing those who hand out food and water to those waiting in longer lines at the polls. While the aforementioned groups and legislators claim that such restrictions are not meant to suppress voter turnout, these new policies have disproportionate effects on minority communities. These policies are framed under the guise of increased voter security, even after Trump’s Justice Department was unable to find evidence of electoral fraud during the 2020 election.
Black and brown voters are especially vulnerable because SB 202 policies limit and complicate their ability to vote. Critics have gone so far to call the bill “Jim Crow Lite” because the legislation is reminiscent of old, discriminatory voting measures and tests that intended to reduce the say of those in marginalized, Black communities. While bill does not overtly target any specific group, the decrease in voter accessibility for marginalized communities perpetuates a similar vein of institutionalized racism.
Unfortunately, the transgender community is also targeted by SB 202 because of new requirements surrounding ID verification. This can become problematic for transgender people who lack documentation with their name and gender identity. The 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey reported that 68 percent of their 27,700 respondents lacked IDs with their preferred name and gender. This makes the SB 202 support from anti-LGBTQ groups even more concerning. Like the voter suppression of BIPOC, this problem has been longstanding, and legislation like SB 202 only makes this problem worse.
Photo Courtesy of Elliot Stallion
