The Fight to Vote

March 1, 2016

Americans' power to effect social reform, to hold their government accountable, and to create a vision of political equality is in peril, according to Waldman (president, Brennan Ctr. for Justice, New York Univ. Sch. of Law; The Second Amendment). The right to vote in the United States, which is the essential process for determining the vox populi, seems to be under siege. Plunging voter turnout for elections, pervasive gerrymandering of legislative districts, Republican state lawmakers' generation of voter identification laws that effectively disenfranchised African American and Hispanic voters, and recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions that opened political campaigns to vast sums of secretly donated money and that struck down key provisions of the Voting Rights Act are events that confirm this assessment. As this history demonstrates, vested interests have constantly sought to constrict the pool of voters for their advantage. The fight to broaden the vote has been an ongoing process since Americans declared their independence in 1776. VERDICT Using a wealth of solid historical scholarship and political biography, Waldman's work makes the contemporary issues concerning the right to vote accessible to the average American. When read along with Robert E. Mutch's Buying the Vote, any citizen concerned about the health of America's democracy will be well informed. [See Prepub Alert, 8/10/15.]--Glen Edward Taul, Campbellsville Univ. Lib., KY

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