voting rights
I’m mourning the end of the Voting Rights Act
Why shred this law when Congress is still disproportionately White and segregation is still endemic?
Gutting the vote
The downfall of the Voting Rights Act is devastating—and familiar.
Jedediah Purdy’s democratic vision
This formidable yet accessible book should be homework for every thoughtful American.
American democracy can’t survive without federal election reform
The party in Trump’s thrall is going after the very notion of fair elections. Yet Congress has failed to act.
Voter suppression is lethal to democracy
We can’t let the filibuster keep us from doing something about it.
Woke corporations?
Unlike today’s Republican party, Delta and Coca-Cola are responsive to public opinion.
Why the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act is necessary
“The vote is precious,” said Lewis. Fifty-five years after Bloody Sunday and the Voting Rights Act, many Americans remain disenfranchised.
Wisconsin’s voting problems began long before the pandemic
Those in power have been working for years to prevent votes from counting.
The right to vote only matters if it’s enforced
The voting rights provisions of the “For the People Act” should be uncontroversial.
In the face of violent white supremacy, how should I respond?
I was invited to an interfaith solidarity service. Instead I spent the day reading Congressman John Lewis's graphic novel trilogy about the civil rights movement.
Winning souls to the polls: A fight against North Carolinas voting barriers
In North Carolina, civil rights leaders are focused on the one political issue that undergirds all others: the right to vote.
After Section 5
I spent last week on a rural island in Wisconsin, where the Century was cosponsoring the Wisconsin Council of Churches' annual summer forum. It was a great event. It was also a pretty momentous news week, and there I was away from the office and mostly offline.
Since returning I've been taken aback by just how much more ink the Supreme Court's Defense of Marriage Act decision has gotten than its Voting Rights Act decision.
My home state's enhanced democracy
In November, I had to vote by provisional ballot. Happens to a lot of people, often for no good reason. But if I had stayed closer to home instead of moving across the state line, along with making my parents happy I likely would have avoided this frustrating experience at the polls. Wisconsin doesn't need to use provisional ballots on anything like the level that Illinois does, because Wisconsin has same-day voter registration.
Presidential limos for DC voting rights
Lots of great moments from the Inauguration. Some of them serious, like Obama's full-throated support for LGBT rights. (Though contrary to some reports, it wasn't the first time he used the Seneca Falls/Selma/Stonewall line.) Some of them fun, like watching the First Family behave like a regular, happy, un-self-conscious family. (It's not likely you missed this, but just in case: Malia Obama's amazing photobomb.)
My personal favorite: the president's decision to start using DC's "Taxation Without Representation" license plates on his limo.