00:10America's founders fought for the right to elect their own leaders, so much better than
00:14having a king. Now our precious right to cast a ballot is protected for all time in the United
00:19States Constitution. Right? Uh, right? The Constitution does not contain any explicit
00:27and affirmative guarantee of the right to vote. It's simply not in there.
00:32What? We don't have the right to vote? Isn't voting what makes a democracy a democracy?
00:44Turns out that back in 1787, when the U.S. Constitution was drafted, the 13 colonies each
00:49had different ideas about voting. And in order to get all the colonies to agree to sign the
00:54Constitution, the Founding Fathers deliberately left out anything about voting rights and just
00:59left it up to the states. Nice work, guys. Because today, there are over 7,000 local jurisdictions
01:07inside 50 states and 5 U.S. territories that regulate and administer the vote in their own ways.
01:13And the problem with so many local election standards is that some states used to be like
01:18Alabama before 1965.
01:22I was born in Greensboro, Alabama, and I lived here all my life. We went to the courthouse for the
01:34first
01:34and third Mondays of each month trying to register to vote. Every time they would ask ridiculous questions,
01:45we say the third line of the second paragraph of the Constitution. And then the minute you say,
01:52well, I don't believe I need to say, well, you just, you don't pass. You don't pass. You just get
01:57on out.
01:57And it took enormous fortitude and courage for Teresa Burroughs and others to sort of stand up to those forces.
02:05I've been in Alabama for 25 years, and each year we celebrate the sacrifices that Alabamians made on Bloody Sunday.
02:15Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965, when police attacked unarmed civil rights protesters,
02:21was a tipping point in the struggle for equal voting rights for African Americans.
02:25Bloody Sunday led directly to the enactment of the Voting Rights Act, which was the broadest
02:30protection of voting ever in our country. The Federal Voting Rights Act finally enforced
02:35the 15th Amendment, which made it illegal to deny the right to vote based on race.
02:39The first time I voted was for the governor. I never will forget that. It was a joy for me.
02:47I'm a registered voter. I've earned that. Over the next four decades, African Americans would
02:53register and vote in ever-increasing numbers. The impact of the Voting Rights Act was extraordinary.
02:58If you look at the presidential elections of 2008 and 2012, you see a dramatic consequence,
03:06which is the election of Barack Obama, which would not have been possible
03:10with the electorate that existed in the United States in 1964. Barack Obama's margins came from
03:17minorities and from young voters. And we shouldn't forget that those young people
03:22wouldn't have been allowed to vote if it weren't for the 26th Amendment, signed into law by Republican
03:26President Richard Nixon. That reduced the age of voting to 18 rather than 21.
03:32Yes, much of the history of voting rights has been about the expansion of suffrage,
03:36but in recent years citing potential voter fraud, a number of states began enacting voter ID laws.
03:42Back in 2012, you could cast a ballot in states such as Texas, North Carolina, Alabama, and Wisconsin
03:48without a government ID. But starting in 2016, you might not be able to vote unless you have the time
03:54and the resources to get the required documents. Okay, so what if you need a government-issued ID to cast
04:00a vote?
04:01Who doesn't have a photo ID? Well, 11% of the voting population. That's who.
04:0721 million people. Judges struck down some of these ID laws, and some states are making it easier to
04:14register and to vote. But at the same time, other states are cutting down on early and same-day registration.
04:20Certain districts are reducing the number of polling places and cutting down on early voting hours.
04:25It's partly partisan. It's about power. If you can restrict the number of people who vote,
04:31it might be easier for your party, your candidate to get elected. People have to be very motivated,
04:38very committed to voting in their local communities in order to fully realize their right to vote.
04:46Voting matters. Elections matter. That's why there has been so much conflict over it.
04:52Now you know that the Constitution doesn't guarantee that voting will be easy,
04:56and that new laws and budget cuts make voting harder for some people in some states.
05:00So what should you do? Know the voting rules and polling places in your town,
05:05and work to change the laws if they bother you. But to do that,
05:08you've got to make sure that you can vote. It might be harder than you think.
