Contemporary Debates

How to Use This Book

1. Foundational Issues Pertaining to Voter Suppression or Disenfranchisement
Q1: Has there always been universal suffrage and the right to vote in America?
Q2: Does the Fifteenth Amendment guarantee the right to vote regardless of race?
Q3: Have women always enjoyed the right to vote?
Q4: Can examples of significant voter fraud be found in US history?
Q5: Was the Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed to combat voter disenfranchisement and voter suppression?
Q6: What was the impact of the Supreme Court's Shelby County v. Holder (2013) decision on voting rights and voter suppression?
Q7: Which states passed restrictive voting suppression laws after Shelby County v. Holder?
Q8: How often has voter fraud taken place in modern national elections, and does the level of fraud justify preventive measures that burden the right to vote ?

2. Links between Institutional Structures and Process and Voter Disenfranchisement
Q9: Does gerrymandering and districting diminish equal or proportional representation or disenfranchise voters?
Q10: Does the operation of the Electoral College disenfranchise voters in presidential elections?
Q11: Has the federal government enacted legislation making it easier to register to vote and/or preventing states from voter registration purges?
Q12: Has election infrastructure been modernized and improved to help protect against voter disenfranchisement?
Q13: What actions regarding voter identification have state governments taken in response to the 2002 passage of the Help America Vote Act?

3. Disenfranchised Groups Based upon Status
Q14: Does felony disenfranchisement adversely impact particular demographic groups?
Q15: Could a person be disenfranchised because of a judicial determination of "mental incompetency" or being classified by the state as an "idiot"?
Q16: Are college students at greater risk of disenfranchisement?
Q17: Are the voting rights of military members and their families impacted by virtue of military service?
Q18: Are unhoused individuals at greater risk of disenfranchisement?

4. Voter Registration and Voting Registration Poll Purges
Q19: What are the legal requirements of state voter registration purges?
Q20: What are the chief reasons why voters are removed from voter registration lists?
Q21: Did the Interstate Crosscheck Program improve voting access and protect against voter fraud, or did it suppress the vote?
Q22: Do any centralized federal databases currently exist to verify voter registration?
Q23: Have states utilized other database-related matching programs that suppress the vote?
Q24: Do state election police forces exist to investigate and protect against voter fraud?

5. Mail-in Ballots, Ballot Drop Boxes, Voter Identification Requirements, and Early Voting
Q25: How do restrictions on voting by mail or absentee voting impact voter participation?
Q26: Are ballot drop boxes secure and fraud resistant?
Q27: What is the status of universal voter identification laws?
Q28: How commonplace is the practice of early voting, and how does it impact voter turnout?

6. Impacts of Restrictions and Conditions of Polling Places on Voting
Q29: Which states have closed polling places, and how has this suppressed the vote?
Q30: Are there longer waits and lines in urban polling stations than in small towns and suburban areas?
Q31: What disparities exist between voting resources at polling places in affluent and poor communities?

7. Security and Maintenance of Peace and Security at Polling Places
Q32: Are partisan poll watchers needed in elections, or do they contribute to voter suppression?
Q33: Is it permissible to station police at polling locations?
Q34: Are voters protected by law from intimidation, threats, coercions, and/or violence at the polling place?
Q35: Are election workers adequately protected from intimidation and violence?

Index