
Since the end of Reconstruction, voter suppression has been a tool of white supremacy in the South.
With new political maps in place that are likely to limit the Black vote, we face more of the same in the 2022 election. That's why Scalawag and Anoa Changa are teaming back up for a new podcast series covering Southern communities working to drive change at the ballot box and beyond.
Southern organizers know the monumental challenges their communities face. Through micro-interventions, these groups are providing a home base for community members to feel connected and supported as they take on entrenched power systems.
In the new 2022 season of As The South Votes, we talk about what's working, what's not, and what lessons Southern organizers have learned in their efforts to make the region we love a more just place.
Listen to the episodes:
How we organize around elections: Lessons from Mississippi organizers
Catching up with Mississippi Votes about what it means to organize young leaders to shift the balance of power in a state still combating deeply entrenched white supremacist power.
Listen to the episode.How we fight gerrymandering in the South
Putting redistricting in context, with a spotlight on the legal challenges to some highly questionable maps that have been allowed to go into effect for the upcoming election.
Listen to the episode.How we build political power: Lessons from Texas and Florida organizers
Organizers in Texas and Florida share what it means to build power outside of traditional electoral campaigns.
Listen to the episode.How we save ourselves: Interventions beyond the ballot box
Groups that employ continued, year-round civic engagement in the South walk us through the connection between electoral power and creating real opportunities for our communities to thrive.
Listen to the episode.As The South Votes: Live midterm election results
Follow along with live-updated maps for all U.S. House and Senate midterm elections by state—and check out Scalawag's deeper reporting about voting, electoral justice, and organizing in the South.
If you want to get involved with electoral action, As The South Votes is the resource you need, whether you're just getting started or have been on the frontlines for years.
Together, we can expand who thinks of themselves as an organizer, and build collective power across the South. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to join us in this work.
Further reporting:
Illustrated: The South isn't so anti-abortion after all. Kentucky proved it at the polls.
Activists across Kentucky organized voters against an amendment that would have prevented a right to abortion or abortion funds in the state constitution. In illustration, meet three folks who were part of the movement to defeat Amendment 2.
Blue County, Purple State
While the county might remain an uphill battle for Republicans, North Carolina as a whole is a political toss-up.
On abortion, count on Gen Z for more than votes
For all the debate on how young voters will show up in 2022, there's a mismatch between campaigns to engage them and their experiences organizing for reproductive justice on the ground.
How millennial and Gen Z organizers are moving Mississippi beyond Jim Crow
Mississippi Votes invests in year-round community-building to build momentum for long-term political change.
In Texas' most populated counties, people-power and political power go hand-in-hand
Texas Organizing Project rallies its 285,000 members to keep momentum with some 6 million voters in the state's most populated counties between election cycles.
Florida's problems—and their solutions—are a bellwether for the South at large
Florida Rising is empowering organizers and redirecting resources to address government failings and shift the balance of power across the state.
This series is made possible with the support of the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to social problems.
Tools & more reporting:
Black voting rights experts weigh in on disinformation: We've got your back
What role does disinformation play in aiding or furthering voter suppression? "Those who are most susceptible to disinformation are the ones with the most at stake."
Don't discount the majority of your state: Reaching rural Southern voters
How can we work to help more rural voters get engaged this cycle? "If we had enough voting power in our metro areas, we would already be living in the kind of state we want to live in."
Black disillusionment is real, but Black liberation is possible
Many voters—and organizers—are critical of the Biden/Harris ticket, but don't have a good alternative to offer. Is that voter suppression? How do we combat this specific kind of disillusionment?
In Florida, protesting can cost you your right to vote
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis met calls to defund the police with an expansion of police power to crack down on protests.
New Tennessee law surfaces the South's racist beginnings of felon voter disenfranchisement
A decades-old debate over whether to keep a bust of the former Klu Klux Klan Grand Wizard in Tennessee's State Capitol sparks a new law excavating the South's racist history with voter suppression.
In plain words: Making sense of election results and news coverage
A full two decades since we collectively learned about hanging chads, the language around elections is more confusing than ever.
Revisit videos from As the south votes 2020:
Voter suppression reporting and urgent information for voters in Southern states including: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Walking through common questions around the upcoming November 2020 election, and issues with the postal service around absentee ballots. How to cast your ballot, send in a mail-in ballot, find resources for voting in person, avoid voter intimidation at the polls, and what to do when someone tries to keep you from voting. Investigating racist laws and providing tools and strategies for underserved and marginalized communities.