People in poverty are paying more to vote.

It's not easy to vote in America. A variety of voting laws around the country create broad disparities in access. For instance, some states have more stringent registration rules, reduced early voting hours, and fewer polling places. Others have implemented laws that protect and promote the right to vote.

In 2021, nineteen states are among those that have restricted voting rights legislatively. This isn't particularly unusual: voter suppression has been used as a political tool in the United States since its beginning, usually targeted at minority communities. But there's another, usually-overlooked correlation: between voter suppression and high poverty rates.

In states with high poverty rates, the cost of voting is consistently higher. These states also tend to be smaller, Republican-leaning states. At the same time, larger, Democratic-leaning states usually have lower poverty rates and lower costs of voting. This correlation between high poverty and voter suppression is exemplary of an America where poor people's voices are silenced and power is held by the few; where the small, affluent upper class holds far more wealth than the large, poor lower class; and where enacted policy regularly promotes the expansion of the pre-existing wealth gap.

There remain, of course, outliers of the trend. New Hampshire is a state with a strong social safety net, which has reduced poverty from 19.7% to 7.0%. However, its stringent voting laws create significant barriers to turnout. It does not allow early voting, and before the pandemic limited the use of absentee ballots. The state also has no mechanism to register to vote online, and the voter registration form must be requested from local officials (because it is unavailable online). New Hampshire is also somewhat of a unique outlier: it is a small, Democratic-leaning state with a Republican-controlled legislature and governor's office that has enacted these policies, with dramatic ramifications for the cost of voting.

Another outlier with the opposite problem may raise some eyebrows: Louisiana. The state has an incredibly high poverty rate (17.8%, the second-highest in the country), but is far closer to the center in terms of cost of voting. While the state still mandates a witness signature on ballots, it has enacted legislation to enfranchise convicted felons after they leave prison. The state also has some early voting available to residents.

The worst state in the country for voting rights is Texas. In a special session during the dead heat of last summer, the state's legislature forced through an omnibus elections bill that would limit opportunities for voting and ultimately damage public turnout. Notably, the bill included a provision that banned drive-thru and 24-hour voting in the state. Both of these measures were implemented by Harris County, the largest county in the state, during the pandemic and created new opportunities to vote for low-income people, many of whom work multiple jobs or long overtime hours.

The correlation between high poverty and high cost of voting demonstrates an unbreakable cycle of poverty as a policy choice. Elections matter: in places where low-income people have equal political power, which tend to be politically aligned with the Democratic Party, public policy reflects their needs and works to narrow the wealth gap. In places where they have unequal political power, which tend to be aligned with the Republicans, public policy actively promotes the wealth gap and fails to reduce poverty. Politicians across the country that have restricted the right to vote are making a conscious decision to suppress the vote of lower-income communities, for their own political gain.

The United States: using voter suppression as a tool for political gain since 1776.