of the primary showed that predominantly Black neighborhoods in Houston were 44% more likely to have ballots rejected than predominantly white neighborhoods.
We can’t afford to wait until October or November for voters to find out that the way they voted in 2020 won’t work anymore. Instead, we must treat every upcoming primary, local, and special election as a precious opportunity to educate voters on these new laws and to walk them through casting a ballot in an actual election before the midterms arrive.
Arizona and Florida have a slew of local elections in April and May followed by state primaries in August; Georgia has a May primary with likely runoff elections in June; and Texas has two more statewide elections coming up just in May alone . Civic engagement groups must use these upcoming primaries to re-teach people how to vote or else we could see a level of voter disenfranchisement in November’s midterms far beyond what just happened in Texas.