Issue Briefing:

Democracy Reform

There’s no climate justice without strengthening our democracy.

In 2021, 18 states passed a combined 30 laws that make it more difficult to vote. A landmark piece of legislation, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, used to help neutralize restrictive state voting laws by requiring states with a history of discrimination to obtain preclearance from the federal government before implementing a new law. But in 2013 and again in 2021, the Supreme Court struck down two critical sections of the VRA, effectively killing the preclearance system and limiting the federal government’s ability to challenge state voting laws in court.

The continued disenfranchisement of marginalized Americans has major consequences for climate action. The fossil fuel industry has a stronghold on the political system and is well-resourced and well-organized enough to exert lobbying influence and fill the coffers of Super PACs that fund campaigns. This means that many elected officials are biased in favor of fossil energy companies before they are even sworn into office, and the climate movement is playing offense.

Fortunately, climate advocates have public opinion on our side. Polling shows that a strong majority of Americans believe in, and are concerned about, a warming planet. Non-white Americans report higher rates of concern about the climate crisis, but they’re also the population targeted by new voting restrictions across the country. Expanding voting rights for all citizens will lead to greater climate accountability and electing more climate champions into office at every level of government.

The Climate Case for Democracy Reform

States are enacting voting restrictions at record pace. At least 30 laws have been passed in 2021 alone that limit voting access and eligibility. Texas is about to adopt the most restrictive voting measures in the country with the passage of SB.1. States are also entering a period of congressional redistricting after the 2020 Census, and only six states have independent, nonpolitical redistricting commissions.

Democracy reform is critical for passing bold climate policy. Surveys show that the majority of Americans believe that transitioning to a clean energy economy should be a priority, but the will of the majority is often ignored due to a combination of corporate influence in politics and deliberate attempts to suppress access to the ballot box. To meaningfully address climate change is to break free of minority rule.

Climate change will disproportionately impact communities of color, whose votes are often the ones being suppressed. These are the same communities often targeted by restrictive voting measures. If communities of color aren’t able to advocate for themselves at the ballot box, they will be neglected in future policy decisions. A history of institutionalized discrimination confirms this. Further, eliminating partisan gerrymandering will help prevent marginalized communities from being clustered in districts that do not represent the natural geographic distribution.

An overwhelming majority of Americans support democracy reform. Polling from Politico/Morning Consult shows majority support for each of the Freedom to Vote Act’s major democracy reform provisions (shown below). The issue of voting rights isn't a matter of left vs. right—it’s about common-sense reforms to make sure the voices of the American people are heard.

  • Expanding early voting: 65% support/23% oppose

  • Prohibiting partisan gerrymandering: 64% support/19% oppose

  • Prohibiting attempts to prevent voter registration: 62% support/24% oppose

  • Making Election Day a holiday: 61% support/26% oppose

  • Expanding same-day voter registration: 56% support/30% oppose

  • Expanding vote by mail: 55% support/35% oppose

  • Enfranchising those with former criminal convictions: 54% support/32% oppose

  • Expanding automatic voter registration: 51% support/33% oppose

The political influence of the fossil fuel industry runs deep, keeping politicians beholden to special interests. The fossil fuel industry supports candidates who will keep them in business, and greater enfranchisement will serve to hold politicians more accountable to their electorates. Requiring large contributions to PACs, rather than just candidates, will help counter the influence of fossil fuel dark money in our elections.

Facts by Issue Frame

+ Equity and Environmental Justice

  • Voter suppression has a disproportionate impact on people of color and groups facing socioeconomic challenges. Climate change does too. Research has shown that people of color overall are more concerned about climate change, and with good reason. When everyone’s right to vote is secure, everyone has a say in who is elected and what policies are pursued. Those who feel the most impacts from climate change need to have their voices heard.

  • Gerrymandering and voter suppression policies all result in the exclusion of BIPOC and marginalized communities from our electoral process. The consequences of that exclusion extend far beyond climate change, and research has shown that expanded voting rights help close racial wealth and education gaps.

  • The impacts of the fossil fuel economy are disproportionately felt by communities of color, and half of those within 3 miles of a Superfund site are people of color.

  • A recent EPA study on four vulnerable groups found that racial minorities will suffer disproportionately from the effects on climate change. Specifically, Black Americans are 40% more likely to live in areas with increased climate change-related mortality rates. The numbers for other racial groups all show increased likelihood to live in those areas over non-POC Americans: Hispanic/Latino at 43%, American Indians at 48%, and Asian Americans at 23%.
  • Low-income Americans and those with no high school diploma are 25% more likely to live in areas with high projected labor loss due to climate change, according to the EPA.

+ Public Health

  • Untangling our politics from fossil fuel money helps reduce dependence on dirty power plants. Communities of color disproportionately live and work in polluted areas, leading to asthma attacks and impairing child development. Everyone deserves the right to breathe clean air, and it starts with dismantling the incentive structure that keeps our politicians beholden to oil and gas companies.
  • Health externalities from fossil fuel use comprise 350,000 preventable deaths each year. By subsidizing fossil fuels, we are allowing polluters to abdicate responsibility for the social costs they impose on communities.
  • Health effects of climate change can be caused by air and water pollution that directly result from the burning of fossil fuels, but climate change also alters environmental determinants of health, such as extreme heat, corroded infrastructure, proliferation of disease, famine, drought, and natural disasters.

+ Rapid Decarbonization

  • We might have less than a decade before reaching dangerous geological tipping points. Our fight for rapid decarbonization is a race against time, and the barriers to making that transition are almost entirely political. We need bold policy that reimagines decades of economic dependency on fossil fuels and resource extraction, but in order to get there, we must have the ability to hold our elected leaders accountable to that vision.

+ Jobs

  • The stronger our democracy, and the more we empower the pro-climate action majority, the sooner we can pass policies that stimulate the clean energy economy.
  • Jobs in the fossil fuel industry can pay well, but that’s because they pose extreme risks to health and safety for workers who spend hours on end in coal mines and on oil rigs. Clean energy jobs are safer and healthier for our workers.
  • Fossil fuel jobs tend to be centralized in just a few states, whereas clean energy jobs can happen in every state. A movement towards a clean economy will expand job opportunities.
  • Low-income Americans and those with no high school diploma are 25% more likely to live in areas with high projected labor loss due to climate change, according to the EPA.
  • With no action on climate change, extreme heat will force U.S. outdoor workers to collectively lose $55.4 billion in earnings per year.

+ International Affairs & National Security

  • Both climate change and weakened democratic institutions pose enormous national security risks.
  • The more the United States is perceived abroad as a weakened or backsliding democracy, the less trust global investors will have in U.S. financial institutions.
  • The U.S. military spends at least $81 billion per year defending global oil supplies. This puts American troops at risk and takes resources away from other critical national security objectives.

+ Impacts on Urban & Rural Communities

From the Global Change National Climate Assessment :

  • "Climate change and its impacts threaten the well-being of urban residents in all U.S. regions. Essential infrastructure systems such as water, energy supply, and transportation will increasingly be compromised by interrelated climate change impacts. The nation’s economy, security, and culture all depend on the resilience of urban infrastructure systems."
  • "Approximately 245 million people live in U.S. urban areas, a number expected to grow to 364 million by 2050."
  • "Many major U.S. metropolitan areas, for example, are located on or near the coast and face higher exposure to particular climate impacts like sea level rise and storm surge, and thus may face complex and costly adaptation demands."
  • "The urban elderly are particularly sensitive to heat waves. They are often physically frail, have limited financial resources, and live in relative isolation in their apartments. They may not have adequate cooling (or heating), or may be unable to temporarily relocate to cooling stations. "
  • Meanwhile, "rural communities are highly dependent upon natural resources for their livelihoods and social structures. Climate change related impacts are currently affecting rural communities. These impacts will progressively increase over this century and will shift the locations where rural economic activities (like agriculture, forestry, and recreation) can thrive."
  • "Physical isolation, limited economic diversity, and higher poverty rates, combined with an aging population, increase the vulnerability of rural communities. Systems of fundamental importance to rural populations are already stressed by remoteness and limited access."