Resources

The following is our recommended list of Resources. Our list compiles select writings by leading academics, organizers, journalists, and litigators on topics relevant to the Right to Vote Initiative, including right-to-vote amendment language and the history of the right to vote and race.  We also feature webinars and other up-to-date resources.

By Aderson Francois, Colin Starger, Peggy Cooper Davis | October 17, 2016

The Persistence Of The Confederate Narrative (2015) New York University Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers, Paper 540

A law review article by Professors Peggy Cooper Davis, Aderson Francois, and Colin Starger on how the “Confederate narrative of states’ rights has undermined the Reconstruction Amendments’ design for the protection of civil rights,” including “the right to participate in the Nation’s political life.”

Open Link
By Steve Cobble | October 17, 2016

The Right to Vote: A Constitutional Amendment Strategy Fair Vote, Oct. 2003

Political campaigner Steve Cobble lays out a nationwide strategy to win a constitutional right to vote.

“At its heart, I believe the American story is a story about the struggle to expand our democracy, to enlarge the right to vote to include more and more people.  That’s when we have been at our best; that’s a dream worth fighting for . . . .”

Open Link
By Demetrios James Caraley | October 17, 2016

Why Americans Need a Constitutional Right to Vote for Presidential Electors 116 Pol. Sci. Q. 1, (2001)

Political scientist Demetrios James Caraley discusses the need for a constitutional right to vote.

“It has become necessary to insert firm constitutional language by amendment if we are to be protected against antidemocratic state electors, antidemocratic state legislatures, and antidemocratic Supreme Court justices.”

Open Link
By Richard Briffault | October 17, 2016

Three Questions for the “Right to Vote” Amendment 23 Wm. & Mary Bill Rts. J. 27 (2014)

Professor Richard Briffault evaluates arguments for and against a right-to-vote amendment. 

“Although a right-to-vote amendment could symbolically validate the central place of voting in our democratic order, its practical significance in actually securing the right to vote like the right to vote today would likely turn on the future actions of Congress and the Court.”   

Open Link
By Jamelle Bouie | October 17, 2016

Making Voting Constitutional The American Prospect, Jan. 30, 2013

Writer Jamelle Bouie makes the case for the affirmative right to vote:

“Our governing document creates no right to vote. It’s time it did.” 

Open Link