Independent Voter Suffrage
In 1872, Susan B. Anthony was arrested and fined for unlawfully voting in the New York elections for being a woman. Her civil disobedience sparked the women’s suffrage movement which, in 1920, was finally vindicated by the 19th Amendment.
Fast-forward to 2016. New York’s Closed Primaries harshly disenfranchise Independent voters. In April, over 3.2 million Independent voters were turned away, 27% of all registered New York voters. How significant is this figure compared to 1872?
Using 1870 census data, I calculate that 33.42% of NY women were of voting age. Controlling for a 71.3% voter turnout in 1872, a rough aggregate of likely voters came out to be 23.83%.
In other words: in 2016, the state of New York disenfranchised more Independent voters (27%) than it did would-be female voters in 1872 (23.83%), when Susan B. Anthony protested the unjust voting policies.
Side note: Shelby County v. Holder (2013)
It’s important to note the impact of this Supreme Court ruling on the Civil Rights Act of 1965 and increased disenfranchisement. In New York, Hispanic communities have been impacted. In the “Brooklyn Purge,” over 60,000 voters were de-registered the day before the election. Read more about other states here (pdf, 3MB).
Who will be our next Susan B. Anthony?
This is the first of two blog entries for a university class. I am excited for the research, however, and will later post my complete findings on Academia.edu and with a more detailed analysis on Medium. Stay tuned. If any questions, as always you can reach me @teddyspaghetti on Twitter.
