I come to issues of democracy and voting rights as a grassroots political activist, and I’m not in the habit of reading legal briefs or articles with no less than 389 citations of court cases! In this case, I took the plunge and couldn’t put it down.
This frame-by-frame panorama of the fight for democracy in American history by authors Gruber, Hardy, and Kresky is stunning. The detail is both heart wrenching and heart warming, maddening and inspiring. Indeed, this article, as the history that produced it, is truly from the heart.
The Tuoro Law Review article begins:
“For Americans, the issue of sovereignty and the legitimacy of government rests on the consent of the people and that consent is expressed through the ballot box. Indeed, the right to vote is deeply valued by the public: An overwhelming 91% say that they consider the right to vote as essential to their own personal sense of freedom.”
Thank you, gentlemen, for your passion and dedication! Let’s hope that the courts and litigants hear you. Certainly the American people have heard the call and have fought for fair and free elections as a fundamental right in our democracy since the beginning. My guess is that we’re not about to give up that fight.
Nancy is a long-time community organizer in the independent and developmental cultural movements. Born and raised in Northeast Arkansas under segregation in the 1950s and 1960s, she now lives in Philadelphia, where she is a member of and activist with PA Independents.
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Politics for the People
Conference Call Tonight
Let All Voters Vote: Independents and the Expansion of Voting Rights in the United States
With Authors
Excellent commentary by Nancy Hanks and Steve Hough on the Tuoro Law Review article. I find that the Tuoro Law Review article to be preserved as a special document for the Independent voter movement. My question for everyone is this—where do we go from here? Do we spend thousands of dollars and years fighting to open the primaries of the two major parties or do we fight to abolish their primary elections all together? If we keep fighting to open the primaries, we are reinforcing the power and influence of the two major parties. The Democrats and Republicans will not give up their closed primaries or semi-closed (I prefer semi-closed as opposed to semi-open) primaries easily. It is a tough battle everywhere in the country. The Democrats and Republicans do not want their power diminished in any way.
If we can abolish the primaries of the two major parties, we disrupt their powerful influence over the rest of America. The general elections will become more wide-open and more competitive. This would be true independence!
I see this topic as one of the most important of our time.