Is Voter Suppression Racism?

Changes to voter ID requirements and reduced access to polls and absentee voting is intended to suppress Democratic voting, not to prevent voter fraud as claimed by Republican lead state governments that are enacting the changes. The Republicans are making changes that disproportionately affect Democratic voters. The voters affected are the poor, the elderly and the young.

Urban areas are predominantly Democratic. Therefore, making changes that only affect urban areas and disproportionately affect the poor can significantly reduce Democratic voting and give Republican candidates a winning advantage in swing states.

I believe that racism is still a significant issue in the United States, however, even though the African American population is impacted the most by voter suppression, the suppression is not racism. The urban African American vote is being suppressed because it is predominantly Democratic not because the voters are black.

Even though suppression looks and feels like racism because the population most affected is black, I think Democrats should be careful not to call this racism because it is a weaker argument that is easily attacked.