Disenfranchisement’s success generally depends on whether those attempting it can persuade bipartisan audiences to support the effort. Often, their rationales draw on racist or sexist ideologies or claims that voting obstacles will deliver a higher “quality” voter.

At other times, disenfranchisers have argued that if the other party accepts voting restrictions, it would lower the political temperature. As early as 1780, proponents of Black disenfranchisement argued that Black exclusion was needed for national unity because White Southerners would never consent to a Union in which Black men were citizens. This argument gained prominence during the antebellum era. In the early 20th century, Republican presidents supported Jim Crow in the name of reducing heated regional animosities. washingtonpost.com