Continuing Martin Luther King Jr. week, Elizabethtown College held a Voter Suppression and Civil Rights Panel, Thursday, Jan. 22, in the Hoover Center. Leading the discussion was Andy Hoover, the legislative director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Pennsylvania.
Panelists for the event included Dr. Fletcher McClellan, dean of faculty, Dr. John Rohrkemper, associate professor of English, and Jean-Paul Benowitz, director of student transitional programs and assistant director of academic advising.
Hoover described some of what the ACLU is known for. He explained the ACLU was founded in 1920 and continues to be a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization. The main purpose of the organization is to defend individual constitutional rights and freedoms. The organization defends the rights of women and minorities, workers, students, immigrants, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
Hoover works with the legislative department, so he deals with civil liberties and civil rights issues at the state capital. He protects the right to vote for all Pennsylvania citizens. In his speech, he discussed a trending issue with voter identification. Hoover explained that 18 percent of senior citizens 65 years or older do not have identification. Additionally, 15 percent of citizens with low income have no identification, 20 percent of the minority community has none and eight percent of white adults have no form of identification.
Without any form of identification, it is impossible to vote. Pennsylvania Department of Transportation requires proof of citizenship to obtain a photo identification. With proof of citizenship a social security number is needed, as well as a birth certificate or passport. The problem with proving citizenship is some people were not issued a birth certificate or other problems presented themselves. For example, college students were able to vote with a student identification as long as there was an expiration date. The issue with this was some colleges did not put an expiration date on their student identification cards. Since many issues occur when trying to vote, the ACLU wants to find ways to make getting identification easier for those who have trouble gaining access to vote.
“The ACLU, as an organization that protects people’s constitutional rights, looks at voting rights in the context of ‘does this create a barrier to the vote, or does it expand access to voting?’” Hoover said. “If a policy idea creates a barrier for voting, we oppose that. If the policy idea expands access, we support that. Early voting for example, is a way of expanding access because people don’t have to just show up on that one day between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. to vote, they can vote in the weeks leading up to election day. That’s an example of expanding access to voting.”
When Hoover finished his speech, the panel members then discussed their take on voter suppression and civil rights. McClellan answered a question on how the manipulation of voter rights via suppression and expansion has become critical to the Democratic and Republican parties. Rohrkemper discussed the idea that a basic ideological tenet of a pure democracy is the concept of one person, one vote where each person in the electorate has equal power to influence the election. Benowitz had the last question: “Should section five of Voting Right Act 1965 still be considered constitutional today?” After each panelist had spoken the audience members were able to engage and ask questions.
Hoover discussed his feelings about the importance of having this panel. “For me, this week of recognition for Dr. King is really important to the country. There has been a big focus on community service, which is great. Sometimes there is a tendency to forget the importance of what Dr. King was doing. He was challenging the status quo, and he was challenging injustice. I think a panel like this reminds us that there are still a lot of issues to deal with, there is still discrimination, and we have to be constantly vigilant about them,” Hoover said.
