ACLU Demands Federal Investigation of Barriers to the Ballot for Minority (i.e., Radical) Parties
The ACLU on this day sent the U.S. Justice Department a demand for a federal investigation of “concerted attempts to keep minority parties, especially the Communist Party, off the ballot in the upcoming national elections.”
Efforts to keep minority parties, it charged, had occurred in 13 states. The ACLU accused the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and the American Legion of leading the campaign against unpopular political parties. On September 22, 1940, the state of California, for example, barred the Communist Party from the ballot. By mid-October as the election approached, 10 states had barred the Communist Party from having candidates on their ballots (see October 13, 1940).
Voter suppression of African Americans, Latinos, and low-income people returned aggressively in the 2000s. Learn more about voter suppression here.
Learn about current state laws on ballot access for major and minor political parties.
Learn about the history of the right to vote: Alexander Keyssar, The Right to Vote: the Contested History of Democracy in the United States (2000)
Read: Samuel Walker, In Defense of American Liberties: A History of the ACLU (1990)
Read the ACLU FBI File (not the complete file): http://vault.fbi.gov/ACLU
Learn about the ACLU today: www.aclu.org