US Voting Rights
Special Report, October 2026
By Genocide Watch
Photo Credit: Voter casts a ballot, PBS NEWS © 1996 - 2026 NewsHour Productions LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Genocide Watch writes to alert readers about escalating systemic threats in the United States (US) against voting rights regarding the 2026 Midterm Elections. In combination with growing judicial and extrajudicial repression and violence against immigrants, trans people (particularly trans women), and, indeed, all women in the US, Genocide Watch sees growing signs of genocidal intent and engagement with genocidal stages in the US, including: Classification, Discrimination, Polarization, and Persecution. Genocide Watch issues and declares an early warning of the genocidal process in the US, given threats by the Trump administration and its allies to elections and the civil right to vote.
The current administration and the Republican Party of the US have shown intent toward the genocidal strategy of classification through Executive Order 14160, which sought to eliminate birthright citizenship, and the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, later updated as the SAVE America Act. These acts were introduced to require prospective voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship beyond the current simple requirements. Such proof would require a birth certificate or passport and an ID during in-person registration. Although citizenship is already required to register to vote, the bill creates new barriers to registration. Approximately 140 million US citizens do not have a valid US passport, while only five states provide a driver’s license that indicates citizenship. A study of voting-age citizens shows that 9% lack proof of citizenship or easy access to it, people of color at a higher rate than white people. Name changes, out-of-date driver's licenses, and birth certificates not issued pose challenges for women and Black voters in particular. These acts, if pursued in the next Congress, risk destroying the right to vote for millions of eligible US citizens, even including members of the Republican Party itself. Classification begins with the dangerous process of othering those not aligned with authoritarian governments by stripping away legal protections.
Currently, the US grapples with numerous attempts at voter discrimination. Unconventional executive and judicial branch approaches seeking to eliminate voting rights display a similar pattern: to weaken growing opposition to the authoritarian status quo ahead of the contentious 2026 Midterm Elections. For instance, the Supreme Court blocked President Trump’s order to the US Postal Service to scrutinize mail-in ballots and to check voters’ citizenship, then to refuse to deliver any batches with ballots in question. This plan threatened the rights of voters with disabilities and others who depend on voting by mail to participate, not to mention voters in seven states where all voting is conducted by mail. The most notable example of discrimination is the Supreme Court’s recent landmark ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, which struck down the congressional map (SB8), drawn in response to a court order following the Supreme Court’s decision in Allen v. Louisiana. The court found “no compelling interest justified the State’s use of race in creating SB8,” even though the map had been ordered by a lower court to redesign two of its six districts as majority-minority in accordance with state demographics and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The decision poses a catastrophic blow to the civil and voting rights of Americans of color which the Act was created to protect. Race is heavily correlated with Louisiana’s voting patterns, so ignoring these facts enables discrimination against the humanity of affected voters. Based on 2016 election surveys by the Cooperative Congressional Election Study, 92% of Black voters consistently vote for Democratic candidates; other racial minorities, such as Hispanic and Asian voters, do so at a rate of 70%. One-third of Louisiana’s population are Black people, but new redistricting rules may deny them the chance to vote for the candidates of their choice. This is not the first attack on the Voting Rights Act, but merely the most successful one to date. This decision undermines the historic effort to make voting more equitable and constitutional through the 1965 Voting Rights Act, an effort which led to near-parity in white and Black voter registration rates and tripling the number of Black elected officials. The Voting Rights Act is the cornerstone of the Civil Rights Movement’s achievements and seemed to many Americans to signal the capacity of democracy in the US, as well as its diverse citizenry, to adapt and change in service of expanding and protecting human rights and racial equity. Discrimination in US elections means the destruction of American freedom and the devastating progression of the Discrimination genocidal stage.
The US displays among the highest rates of polarization ever recorded. The current administration is keen on sowing distrust, fear, and doubt. In July 2026, President Donald J. Trump addressed the public to announce soon-to-be-declassified evidence of foreign election interference in the 2020 election. The address reinvigorated unsubstantiated claims that the country’s election systems are vulnerable to the agendas of foreign adversaries, specifically to Chinese interference. The President touted claims that called on Americans to investigate declassified documents, but officials were left unconvinced and even duped by the claims. Trump also repeated false claims suggesting that noncitizens are voting in US elections, which only further demonizes migrants to fuel polarization. The President offered no new evidence that might justify renewal of his complaint. Democratic Party leaders responded to these hollow claims and the declassified material by criticizing the President’s motives for undermining public confidence and attempting to interfere with election results. Ironically, journalistic review reveals the president as the beneficiary of foreign interference, which came from Russia. This address came amid growing attacks on progressive candidates from the President and Republican officials, as enthusiasm for their party weakens and polling shows decreasing approval of the president on issues such as affordability, the war in Iran, and participation and collaboration with Israel in persecution and genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
This polarization works in tandem with the administration’s effort to undermine public confidence in US elections, despite the demonstrable fact that they are and have historically been secure and safe. In fact, an investigation by Trump’s own officials found that the 2020 election was “the most secure in American history.” Polarization, the fifth of the Ten Stages of Genocide, signals further destabilization of the US’s democratic processes and institutions.
Facing a midterm election in which the power of the Republican Party seems precarious, President Trump has escalated to persecution by any means possible. The efforts of the current administration, the Republican Party, and the US Supreme Court to secure a win in the upcoming midterms are increasingly predicated on the disenfranchisement of the country’s most vulnerable (and opposition-motivated) voters. Genocide Watch reminds readers of the legacy of racism and repression against people of color and other historically marginalized and oppressed groups in the US, which have historically led to mass violence (Rock Springs, Wyoming, Tulsa, Rosewood, and the murders of Cheney, Goodman, and Schwerner, to name only a few examples). The persecution underway now debilitates the power of the US Constitution and the rights it affords to all Americans.
Conclusion
Genocide Watch seeks to alert its readership and calls on readers to reflect upon the human dignity and humanity of all Americans. Voting rights and elections, as a civil right and perpetual opportunity, are imperative in a democracy, and they must be protected.
Genocide Watch recommends:
Non-state actors such as civil society organizations, academic institutions, and independent media should continue documenting and reporting on discriminatory voting practices to promote the protection of voting rights.
Congress should strengthen the protections of the Voting Rights Act by enacting legislation that safeguards against discriminatory redistricting practices.
All US state governments should establish independent, nonpartisan redistricting commissions and require disclosure of map-drawing criteria, to allow for meaningful public participation before congressional maps are adopted.
The US Department of Justice should investigate allegations of racial gerrymandering and voter suppression and publish regular public reports on their actions, since these actions are unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and the 15th Amendment.
International human rights bodies should continue to monitor all conditions in the US for people of color, especially voting rights and racist persecution.
The international community must insist that the US comply with international human rights standards protecting equal political participation including Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
