Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death prompts massive surge in voter registration and new requests for mail-in ballots
The death of iconic Supreme Court judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg just weeks ahead of Election Day has seen some impacts in America’s political life. On the one hand, the two major parties have engaged in a battle over RBG’s succession with the Democratic Party accusing the Republican Party of being hypocritical in nominating the late judge’s replacement. On the other, RBG’s death on September 18 has seen more Americans signing up to vote, a trend which has convinced the observers that more number of people want their voices to be heard this November 3.
CNBC reported on Wednesday, September 23, saying Vote.org confirmed more than 40,000 new registrations on the weekend that followed RGB’s death. It was a 68 percent rise over what was seen in the weekend before that. The group also said that it received more than 35,000 requests for mail-in ballots which is again a 42 percent jump from the previous weekend.
“Following Justice Ginsburg’s passing, the significant uptick in interactions with Vote.org’s registration and mail ballot resources, culminating in record numbers on National Voter Registration Day, speaks to energy among Americans who want to make sure their voices are heard this election,” Vote.org CEO Andrea Hailey said in a statement.
RBG death galvanized eligible voters, says Rock the Vote president
Carolyn DeWitt, president of Rock the Vote, which also works towards encouraging people to vote, echoed similar thoughts. Speaking to CNBC, she said her organization also saw a similar rise. “I do think that the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg has galvanized eligible voters, in particular, who understand the role of the Supreme Court and are concerned about the future of civil rights,” she was quoted as saying by CNBC.
The death of Ginsburg, whose last wish was to get replaced by a new president, happened just ahead of the Voter Registration Day (September 22) when groups like NextGen American, When We All Vote besides Rock the Vote saw bettering of all previous registration records, according to a report in CNN said on Thursday, September 24. When We All Vote, a voter engagement platform which is co-chaired by former first lady Michelle Obama, for instance, reported that more than 82,000 voters either started or completed the registration process between Saturday and Thursday.
Vote.org, on the other hand, processed more than 74k new voter registrations on the Voter Registration Day and 41,000 mail-in ballot requests. In the entire day, Vote.org registered 135,000 new voters which is twice the number they reached during the 2018 elections, the CNBC report added. More than 60 percent of those they helped to get registered were women while those who mostly registered through Vote.org belong to the age group of 25 and 34. Nearly 25 percent of those registered were between 18 and 24.
While President Donald Trump and his aides have rushed to pick Ginsburg’s successor, the opponents have said that the GOP was more concerned with its political gains because the same party had resisted the appointment of the Merrick Garland, the nominee of former President Barack Obama to replace Justice Antonin Scalia after he died nine months ahead of the 2016 presidential election. The GOP-controlled Senate had said then that a new president should pick Scalia's successor and it was done only in 2017 when Trump chose Neil Gorsuch.
The common voters are also touched by the Ginsburg episode as according to a recent Economist/YouGov poll, 80 percent of likely voters said the choice of the next judge is something that they find important personally. When seen party-wise, the verdict on whether the successor should be picked right away was highly polarized with 83 percent of the Democrats saying no and 80 percent of the Republicans saying yes.
However, the USA Today report cited a recent study conducted by Brennan Center for Justice which said despite the recent surge in registrations, the overall voter registration is dramatically low from what it was in 2016. The study considers the coronavirus pandemic as the reason behind this decline. The study, which was released on Monday, September 21, said voter registration went down by an average of 38 percent in 17 out of 21 states that were covered. In some, the decline was more dramatic than in others while in four -- Idaho, Alaska, Utah and Michigan -- there was a rise in the registrations.