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Considers & reviews the problems within voting in the United States, pointedly of the presidential elections of 2000 & 2004, while tracing many of the problems, such as voter punch card difficulties as far back as their inception, in the 1970's. Couples these data with the Voting Rights Act, which it finds to have been a success as restriction of minorities in the south to voter registration & the polls to be negligible, with the caveat that such disenfranchisement could reoccur. While the situation for African-Americans seems acceptable, the same is not so true for Hispanics, not so much from racist action, but from Hispanic voter registration in relation to it demographic proportion within the whole population. Sees electronic voter technology as problematic ipso facto, not necessarily as being adverse to minority groups. The author asks the reader to consider the ramifications & meanings of having the right to vote in face of governmental acceptance of lower voting technology in light of economic pressures, along with inequalities of voting practices amongst differing areas of the country, ultimately pointing to a need for standardization of such practices. To sum up, this is not a problem that will go away until action is taken. Tables, Appendixes, References. J. Fullmer

Corporate criminals, particularly those who hold a position of power within a large company, stand little chance of going to prison. Thus, even if they are convicted of deviant crimes, their right to vote will not be taken away. By contrast, individuals convicted of petty street crimes & sent to prison will have their right to vote revoked for at least 10 years. This despite the fact that the social cost of corporate crime is greater than the social cost of street crime. The time is right, therefore, for social activists to call attention to the repercussions of corporate crime & the inequalities that exist within the US justice system. K. Larsen

Intro -- Table of Contents -- Series Introduction -- Chapter One: Political Participation -- Chapter Two: Challenges to Political Participation -- Chapter Three: Elections -- Chapter Four: Voting Rights -- Chapter Five: Challenges to Voting Rights -- Further Reading -- Series Glossary -- Index -- About the Author -- Photo Credits.

I put together just some brief statements, then I will give you more personal comments. Let me just start by telling you a little background, too. We got a little history lesson tonight, and it is important to know where we come from. If you do not appreciate the history, it is very hard to map a future for where we are going. While Democrats and Republicans in the South may have voted against the Voting Rights Act 50 years ago, eight of Iowa's nine federal elected officials helped the measure pass. Iowa has long been at the forefront of making elections accessible. The passage of Voting Rights Act was a monumental achievement in our nation's history, and voting is a civic duty that all Americans should fulfill. I am proud that Iowa is one of the nation's leaders in voting accessibility. I would like to continue that trend in my role as Iowa's Commissioner of Elections by increasing participation while maintaining the integrity of the vote. That is the balancing act as part of what we are talking about tonight.

The article provides a comprehensive description of voting discrimination in California from 1982 to 2006. This article was presented as a report to Congress during the 2006 reauthorization and amendments to the Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1973, et seq. The authors focus on the continued necessity for Section 5 review of changes affecting voting and for a bilingual election process in selected jurisdictions. In effect since 1965, Section 5 requires covered jurisdictions to submit all voting changes for approval to either the United States Attorney General or the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The burden is on the jurisdiction to demonstrate the absence of a discriminatory purpose in the enactment of a proposed voting change and to show that the change does not discriminate against minority voting strength. Section 5 has been the most effective civil rights law ever enacted, preventing the implementation of over a thousand voting changes that could have discriminated against minority communities. The bilingual election provisions, first enacted in 1975 as Section 203, have proven to be an important avenue in providing language minorities access to the political process. Although there have been substantial improvements in the elimination of discriminatory election features, methods of election, and English-only election processes, there continues to be a need for federal oversight in this area. This article documents the voting discrimination that occurred in California from 1982 to 2006. This report, along with other state reports, served as the evidentiary basis for Congress in 2006 to both reauthorize and amend the Voting.

Voting qualifications -- Political questions -- One person, one vote -- Preclearance under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act -- Districting by race -- The roles and rights of political parties -- Term limits -- Political speech -- Campaign finance -- At the polls -- Counting the votes -- Remedying errors in elections

The modern voting rights movement began with passage of the Voting Rights Act of 19651 and was essentially black and southern. To-day that movement, propelled by a series of congressional amendments to the Act, favorable court decisions, and the concerted efforts of minority and civil rights communities, is multiracial and national in character. It is also having an increasingly profound impact on American politics. Although the 1965 Act had provisions that applied nationwide,Congress intentionally targeted seven states of the old Confederacy-Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Virginia, and portions of North Carolina-for the application of unique and stringent measures described by the Supreme Court as the "heart of the Act." The new measures suspended discriminatory literacy and other tests which had been used to deny blacks the vote. The Act also prohibited the affected jurisdictions from enacting any new discriminatory laws by requiring them for a period of five years to pre-clear all changes in their election practices with federal officials.

Ecological regression is a statistical mainstay in litigation brought under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The technique is discussed in the context of a suit against the County of Los Angeles that came to trial in 1990. Ecological regression depends on very strong assumptions about political behavior The authors identify these assumptions and show that they are not supported by the data. Also described is an alternative "neighborhood model, " which is a priori more plausible and fits the facts better. The neighborhood model leads to quite different conclusions about voting behavior.