The United States once the leader in democracy, is now in 2020 on par with Third World nations in terms of fair and equal elections. As we have just witnessed on June 9, the state of Georgia rolled out Jim Crow era tactics to nullify the voting rights of black and brown communities. Georgia’s largely minority communities were faced with defective, broken equipment, lack of paper ballots. In Atlanta 80 polling sites were closed since March leaving 16,000 voters from 5 precincts voting at one polling site. This is America not Russia. This is America not Afghanistan. Yet, the Trump and his operatives think denying Americans their right to vote has a place in their warped definition of democracy. As a result, like a Third World country we need the help of the United Nations to prevent voter suppression and ensure fair elections in November. 

Polling place consolidation = Voter Suppression

Reduced Early Voting = Voter Suppression

Reduced Vote by Mail = Voter Suppression

Inaccurate Voter Roll Purges = Voter Suppression

Repressive Voter ID Laws = Voter Suppression

Last-Minute Site Changes = Voter Suppression

Intimidation at the polls = Voter Suppression

Broken, Defective Machines = Voter Suppression

Denial of Voter Suppression without Investigation = Voter Suppression (ADMISSION)

So, we are appealing to the United Nations to express grave concern and outrage at the Trump administration and their operatives’ ongoing attempts to disenfranchise millions of voters. Enfranchisement is essential to human freedom and dignity, to deny citizens’ right to vote is to deny their full humanity. Too many people have bled and died in America’s long fight for voting rights. Racist voter suppression and district gerrymandering undermine the influence of the all Americans in the political process and allow extremists to get elected and promote policies that exacerbate injustice and inequality. Many Republicans seem to believe they cannot win an election unless it is rigged in their favor. The Voting Rights Act was won on Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama in 1965. Now it is being dissolved by Jim Crow tactics tailored for the digital era, with politically correct language. 

Mainly Republicans simply cannot fathom that if they don’t win fairly, maybe they just don’t deserve to win at all. Since we can no longer expect our Justice Department to act on behalf of the disenfranchised, we turn instead to the international community, that you might condemn these crimes. Do not let American democracy continue in its drift towards oligarchy without censure. If we have to rally the global community to shame America into honoring the promise of equal rights for all then that is what we will do.

This is a Human Rights issue and we implore the United Nations to send the strong message that equal and universal suffrage is not an optional commitment, but a fundamental right for all people.