H. Pohlman

Voting in America

Examining the Facts

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

This title gives students and other users a clear understanding of the true state of voting and representative democracy in the United States by impartially examining claims surrounding voter fraud, voter suppression, gerrymandering, and other voting-related issues in the U.S. This work is part of a series that uses evidence-based documentation to examine the veracity of claims and beliefs about high-profile issues in American culture and politics. Each book in the Contemporary Debates series is intended to puncture rather than perpetuate myths that diminish our understanding of important policies and positions; to provide needed context for misleading statements and claims; and to confirm the factual accuracy of other assertions. This particular volume examines beliefs, claims, and myths about voting and elections in the United States. Issues covered include constitutional provisions concerning the franchise, constitutional amendments expanding the vote to previously disenfranchised groups, the specific provisions of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965, and modern-day controversies swirling around claims of voter suppression for partisan gain, voter fraud, and partisan gerrymandering. All of these issues are examined in individualized entries, with objective responses grounded in up-to-date evidence.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury Publishing plc
• Seitenzahl: 244
• Erscheinungstermin: 19. Oktober 2020
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 240mm x 161mm x 18mm
• Gewicht: 534g
• ISBN-13: 9781440873287
• ISBN-10: 1440873283
• Artikelnr.: 60583220

Autorenporträt

H. L. Pohlman is the A. Lee Fritschler Professor of Public Policy and professor of political science at Dickinson College, USA.

Inhaltsangabe

How to Use This Book Introduction 1 Voting and Political Representation in
the Constitution Q1. Did the original Constitution give all citizens a
right to vote in presidential elections? Q2. Did the original Constitution
of the United States grant citizens the right to vote for members of
Congress? Q3. Did any African Americans have a right to vote in federal
elections prior to the Civil War? Q4. Did the ratification of the Fifteenth
Amendment in 1870 end the practice of states denying or abridging the right
of African American men to vote in federal or state elections? Q5. After
Reconstruction ended in 1877, did northern and western states in general
comply with the letter of the Fifteenth Amendment? Q6. As it doubled the
size of the American electorate, did the Nineteenth Amendment (1920)
granting women the right to vote immediately transform American politics?
Q7. Was the Twenty-Sixth Amendment (1971), which dropped the voting age
from twenty-one to eighteen, ratified primarily because the federal
government was drafting eighteen-, nineteen-, and twenty-year-old men to
fight in the Vietnam War? Q8. Are there any other amendments to the U.S.
Constitution that affected the right of American citizens to vote in
federal and state elections? 2 Electoral Districting and the Warren Court
Q9. During the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth, did
Congress allow state legislatures to determine the geographical lines of
electoral districts for elections to the House of Representatives? Q10. Did
the Republican Guarantee Clause of the Constitution (Article IV, Section 4)
provide the Supreme Court with a legal basis to invalidate House electoral
districts if they contained unequal populations? Q11. If federal courts
were unable to rely on the Republican Guarantee Clause to require states to
equalize the populations of House electoral districts, could they
invalidate a change in a state's electoral district lines based on race or
ethnicity? Q12. As the Supreme Court rejected the argument that the
Republican Guarantee Clause was an appropriate basis to invalidate
malapportioned House electoral districts, was there some other
constitutional provision that the Court could utilize to invalidate
malapportioned state electoral districts? Q13. When the Supreme Court ruled
in Reynolds v. Sims and Wesberry v. Sanders that unequal electoral
districts violated either the Equal Protection Clause or Article I, Section
2, did the Supreme Court invalidate the nature of representation underlying
the U.S. Senate, the Electoral College, and the U.S. House of
Representatives? Q14. Did the Warren Court permit a state to maintain
unequal electoral districts if the state's voters overwhelmingly approved
this type of inequality via referendum or initiative? Q15. Did the Warren
Court apply the principle of "one person, one vote" flexibly, allowing
relatively small variations in population between electoral districts
without requiring the state to explain or justify them? Q16. Did the Warren
Court hand down any major decisions on the right to vote besides those
related to apportionment and electoral districting? 3 The Voting Rights Act
in the Twenty-First Century Q17. Was the Voting Rights Act of 1965
politically uncontroversial as it passed by large margins in both the
Senate (77-19) and the House of Representatives (333-85)? Q18. As the
Voting Rights Act of 1965 authorized an unprecedented degree of federal
control and supervision over state electoral practices, was its
constitutionality in doubt when it was enacted? Q19. Do federal "examiners"
and "observers" of elections continue to play an important role in states
subject to the "special provisions" of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act?
Q20. Was Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act redundant because it only
banned what the Fifteenth Amendment already prohibited? Q21. Could a state
use race as a factor in drawing electoral district lines to comply with
Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act to such an extent that it violated the
Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment? Q22. Did Congress ever
broaden the Voting Rights Act to prohibit discrimination against nonracial
minorities, and to require states and political subdivisions to provide
assistance to these minorities in exercising their voting rights? Q23. Has
the constitutionality of all the provisions of the Voting Rights Act
regarding its scope and coverage been consistently upheld by the Supreme
Court? 4 Partisan Gerrymandering Q24. Has partisan gerrymandering evolved
significantly throughout American political electoral history? Q25. Has the
Supreme Court ever invalidated an extreme partisan gerrymander on
constitutional grounds? Q26. Even if the Supreme Court will not consider
the constitutionality of partisan gerrymandering, can state courts strike
down gerrymanders for violating state constitutions? Q27. If no state
judicial remedy is available, are there any political remedies that
disaffected citizens can pursue to rectify extreme partisan gerrymandering?
Q28. As state courts have recently ruled that extreme partisan
gerrymandering violates their state constitutions (Q26) and a number of
states have established independent redistricting commissions (Q27), is it
likely that partisan gerrymandering will soon disappear from American
political life? 5 Ongoing Challenges Q29. Is voter fraud a serious problem
in the modern United States? Q30. Do state voter identification (ID) laws
have any legitimate purpose? Q31. Does the federal Constitution require
states to disfranchise convicted felons? Q32. Even if there are legitimate
reasons why states purge their voter registration lists, can such purges be
used to suppress voting rights? Q33. Is it constitutional for a state to
require that an elector of the Electoral College pledge to vote for the
presidential candidate who won the state's popular vote and punish the
elector if the pledge is not honored? Q34. Is there any way to circumvent
or abolish the role of the Electoral College in presidential elections in
favor of a national popular vote? Q35. Did Russia interfere in the 2016
presidential election to undermine American confidence in U.S. elections
and the value of the right to vote? Q36. Apart from foreign interference in
the 2016 presidential election, are there additional reasons why voters
have lost confidence in the value of the right to vote and the integrity of
American democracy itself? Index