Voter suppression refers to the use of governmental power, political campaign strategy, and private resources aimed at suppressing (i.e. reducing) the total vote of opposition candidacies instead of attempting to change likely voting behavior by changing the opinions of potential voters.

Voter suppression by governmental power

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In the United States, voter suppression was used extensively in some Southern states until the Voting Rights Act (1965) made most disenfranchisement and voting qualifications illegal. Traditional voter suppression tactics included the institution of poll taxes and literacy tests, aimed at suppressing the votes of African Americans and working class white voters.

Measures in place in seven U.S. states ban released felons from voting; some allege that this is a tactic aimed at suppressing voter turnout. Occasionally, as in Florida in the 2000 presidential election, some non-felons are banned due to record-keeping errors and are not warned of their disqualification before they have the right to contest it.

In the U.S. presidential election of 2004, Ohio officials allegedly mis-allocated voting machines to reduce Democratic turnout. (With too few voting machines per registered voter, in areas heavily populated by African Americans who were Democratic, had to wait in line for hours. Republican districts received many more voting machines per capita.) ^*

Voter suppression by campaign organizations

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In the 2002 New Hampshire Senate election phone jamming scandal, Republican officials attempted to reduce the number of Democratic voters by paying professional telemarketers in Idaho to make repeated hang-up calls to block Democrats' ride-to-the-polls phone lines on election day. ^*

Voter suppression by unknown activists

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In the U.S. presidential election of 2004, some voters got phone calls with false information intended to keep them from voting--saying that their voting place had been changed or that voting would take place on Wednesday as well as on Tuesday.

Voter suppression distinct from other campaign tactics

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Unlike negative campaigning, which ordinarily seeks reduce the likelihood of someone voting for a candidate through disparaging arguments directed at a candidate, voter suppression prevents people from voting altogether. Thus if as in the U.S. presidential election of 1964 in the United States the Lyndon Johnson campaign depicted Barry Goldwater as a "right-wing extremist," such a depiction does not constitute voter suppression.

Negative campaigning, even if it goes as far as slander or libel, is not generally considered to be a form of voter suppression. Research has shown, however, that negative campaigning does indirectly make people less likely to vote. ^*

Some kinds of vote fraud--such as bribery or intimidation of electors, or manipulation of voting results by tampering with the voting devices, paraphernalia, or tabulating machines with the result of falsifying, undercounting, or otherwise misrepresenting the vote--may result in depriving qualified electors of their legitimate voice in an election. The term "voter suppression," however, is usually reserved for attempts to keep voters away from the polls, not for other kinds of vote manipulation.

See also

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• Electoral fraud
• Caging list
• Political corruption
• Voter turnout

Campaigning | Political corruption | Elections